Export of groundnut has been hard hit due to its poor arrivals in the open market and exporters of Manapparai have been at a crossroads, pinning their hopes on the prospects of the crop to be harvested in next four or five months.
The crop has miserably failed not only in Tiruchi but also in the adjoining Karur, Pudukottai districts, besides Andhra Pradesh, says an exporter of Poigaipatti near Manapparai, M. Nagarajan.
He said he used to purchase in bulk all the groundnut brought to the wholesale shandy at Manapparai. He said that he used to purchase about 7,000 to 10,000 bags of groundnut every week to be processed and exported to foreign countries through agents in Chennai or Mumbai.
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“But in the drought conditions, the arrivals had come down drastically, causing a serious fall in export,” he said. Till the past two years, the weekly export stood at 15 tonnes but now, the monthly sale is just 15 bags.
On the export norms, he said that the moisture content should be 8 % and the number of nuts should be between 80 and 80 for every 28.5 gram. For super quality, the number of nuts should be between 60 and 70 for every 28.5 gram. He had set up a small-scale industry for seed processing unit. The size of the nuts should be uniform and its colour should be up to the standards.
Exporters say with the non-availability of quality nuts for export, they were now relying on local sales for their business. However, they are confident of resuming export once quality seeds are available after, say three or four months.
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