The Agro Market Intelligence and Business Promotion Centre (AMI&BPC) of the Department of Agricultural Marketing and Agri Business has indicated that the price of tapioca would remain stable in November and December.
To facilitate farmers take appropriate decision on sowing tapioca in March and April, the AMI&BPC at the Centre for Agricultural Rural Development Studies (CARDS), Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, analysed the price of tapioca in Salem market over the past 15 years to provide market intelligence for tapioca growers The AMI&BPC analysis revealed that the price of raw tapioca would be in the range of Rs. 7 to Rs. 8 a kg in November and December 2015. The Exim policy 2016 may impact the prices of raw tapioca and their value-added products, according to the price advisory. At present, tapioca is ruling between Rs. 700 and Rs. 800 a quintal against Rs. 1,350 per quintal in March and April 2014. Sago which was sold at Rs. 6,700 a 90 kg bag had come down to Rs. 3,582 a bag. The price of tapioca starch, which was sold at Rs. 4,000 per 90 kg bag has come down to Rs. 2,260.
The farmers, who got a good price last year, could get only half the price this year. This was mainly because of the crash in sago and starch price because of higher production and less demand. Tapioca is cultivated on about 0.21 million hectares of land with a production of 7.74 million tonnes.
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Tamil Nadu stands first in respect of tapioca production and processing it into starch and sago. Tapioca is cultivated in 14 major districts, including Namakkal, Dharmapuri, Salem, Villupuram, Tiruchi, Erode, and Tiruvannamalai covering an area of about 1.21 lakh hectares of land, the release added.