Steep fall in arrival of coconuts due to the impact of prevailing drought in different parts of the State has shot up the prices of coconut in Tiruchi.
The price of a high quality nut (one kg) was ₹33 and ₹18 for half a kilogram in the wholesale market at Gandhi Market on Wednesday. The price was marginally down by ₹2 on Thursday. The price of coconut has almost doubled within a month. The price for a weight of one kilogram was hovering around ₹18 up to the second week of January. The prices have gradually gone up since then. Market sources said that there was a sharp gap between demand and supply during the last few weeks. The arrivals have gone down by 30% to 40 % at the Gandhi Market, which caters to the needs of places in and around Tiruchi.
Tiruchi market receives coconuts from Pattukottai, Peravurani, Muthupettai, Kuruvikarambai, Madukarai and other places in the coastal districts of Thanjavur and Nagapattinam. It also gets supply from Pollachi, Cumbum and Dindigul. Under normal circumstances, Tiruchi market would receive about two lakh nuts per day. The arrival has come down to 1.5 lakh. It is expected to come down further in the coming weeks due to poor yield in the coconut production centres. Moreover, the coconuts being supplied to the Tiruchi market have been small in size primarily due to lack of rainfall.
“The gap between demand and supply is gradually widening for the last two to three weeks. The yield is said to have come down drastically due to severe drought,” said N. Murugesan, a wholesale coconut merchant at Gandhi Market.
While agreeing that the prices had gone up to an all-time high, he said that the impact of the failure of northeast and southwest monsoon had been felt in coconut production. There was no rain in the production centres for the last one year. The prices would not generally be high in February and March. Mr. Murugesan said that the current prices would continue to rule for a few more months if the production centres received summer rain. Otherwise, the prices would go up further.