KOCHI: While the state’s major agro-industries, including rubber, took a hit owing to various reasons which include the new GST regime, there is one industry which has reasons to cheer.
The ailing coconut industry in the state, which had been in doldrums for the past couple of years, is now riding high on a surge in oil and copra prices, thanks to increased export of coconut products and the low arrival of coconuts in the domestic market.
As per latest figures, raw coconut prices have touched a two-year high of Rs 30-35 per coconut. Similarly, copra and coconut oil prices which had dipped to Rs 53 and Rs 82 per kg, respectively, in the beginning of 2016, jumped to Rs 111 and Rs 180, respectively, at present.
With the festival season set to begin with Sabarimala pilgrimage, coconut oil prices are expected to cross the Rs 200 mark as their demand would be at its peak, while the supply will be limited mainly because domestic production were badly hit due to last summer’s drought.
“Rise in export of coconut products and low arrival in the domestic market owing to last summer’s drought are why oil and copra prices have shot up. The country which exported coconut products worth Rs 1,451 crore in the previous fiscal, exported Rs 2,028 crore worth of coconut products in 2016-17,” said Vasanthkumar V C, statistical officer, Coconut Development Board. The industry’s middlemen are the ones mostly reaping the benefits of the price hikes, though.
“At a time when coconut and oil prices have gone up in the state, touching Rs 12,000 and Rs 18,000 per quintal, respectively, middlemen are routing low-quality coconut and oil to the state from Kangeyam in Tamil Nadu, where, on Saturday, they cost Rs 10,500 and Rs 14,800 per quintal, respectively,” Vasanthkumar said.
Taking advantage of the high prices of coconut oil, fly-by-night oil companies are supplying spurious and sub-standard Palm kernel oil into the state under the guise of coconut oil by mixing the two, said officers.
The copra available in Kangeyam market is of low standard as it contains high moisture in comparison to copra in Kerala. Experts warn coconut oil supplied by various companies for less than Rs 180-Rs 190 per kg should be subjected to a quality test.
Coconut farmers say though raw coconut is fetching a reasonably good price in the domestic market, the dip in production is affecting their income. Farmers’ bodies said coconut productivity of the state, as per latest estimates, dropped to around 7,535 nuts per hectare, against the productivity of 14,873 nuts per hectare in neighbouring states like Tamil Nadu.