Traders who had stocked up on jaggery at the Anakapalle marketyard are now reaping the benefits of a sharp increase in demand, with prices touching new highs.
The demand for jaggery began increasing in September around the start of the festival season, and peaked during Deepavali.
The strong demand lasted till Nagula Chavithi and Kartika Pournami that followed it. With a decline in arrivals of fresh stock in October owing to heavy rain, traders were able to offload stocks in cold storage units, said senior trader Korukonda Butchiraju.
The average arrivals per day plummeted to 400 to 500 lumps from the usual 4,000 to 5,000 a day during October. With the selling of cold storage stock lasting till December in 2018, traders were apprehensive about the prospects in 2019. According to Mr. Butchiraju, the cold storage stock was around 11,000 tonnes.
Apart from the local demand, stocks were mainly lifted from Odisha. This made up for the markets that turned to other areas or to producing jaggery.
While the superior variety touched ₹500 per 10 kg, the other varieties including the inferior black commanded good price. The average increase across the varieties was around 20%, he estimated. The black variety, for instance, commanded ₹400 during the peak demand in the just concluded season. It ended up around ₹340 to ₹350 last year.
The demand at Anakapalle market from traditional buyers waned with Nowrangpur in Odisha turning a major market and Madhya Pradesh itself turning a producer of jaggery over the last few decades. Consequently, traders too wait for the all-India scenario from other major States like Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu to emerge before building fresh stocks. With an average of 20 to 25 lakh lumps arriving annually, the market accounts for a turnover of ₹100 crore.
