Prices of coconuts have skyrocketed in Tiruchi due to fall in arrivals at the market.
The price of a good quality (above average size) nut was Rs.28 in the retail market on the day before Deepavali.
Though high demand for coconuts on account of festivals such as Deepavali, Gowri Nonbu, and new account opening day by a section of north Indian businessmen are cited as temporary and secondary reasons, traders cite low production due to continuous drought as the primary reason for the high price .
Market sources said that arrivals have gone down by 60 to 70 per cent at the Gandhi Market, which catered to the need of places in and around Tiruchi city. As against the normal requirement of about 1 lakh coconuts, the market has been receiving about 70,000 nuts during the last few weeks. Demand has almost doubled due to heavy buying on account of the festival season. However, despite their best efforts, traders couldn’t get more than one lakh coconuts from Peravurani and Cumbum in the days prior to the festival, leading to a spurt in retail prices.
“I shelled out Rs.28 per unit of coconut on Wednesday. Though the coconut prices were ruling high during the past few weeks, I have never brought a coconut for such a high price,” said a homemaker in Cantonment.
There was no real change in the prices of the nut even after Deepavali. In the Gandhi market, a big-sized coconut was priced anywhere between Rs.20 and Rs.25, while an average-sized nut cost between Rs.15 and 20. The customers, who bought the coconuts at grocery and retail vegetable shops, had to shell out at least Rs. 4 more than the Gandhi Market price.
While agreeing that the prices of coconut had shot up to an all-time high, A.Ugin, a wholesale trader at Gandhi Market, said that it was due to a variety of reasons. The ongoing rain was the temporary reason for the dwindling arrival as the farmers and merchants couldn’t remove the husk. The market had not been oversupplied during the last six months. Price rise was primarily due to the heavy drought during the last three years in the procurement centres such as Peravurani and Cumbum, which are the main supplying centres to Tiruchi market.
He said that the price would stabilise in the weeks to come. However, it would again shoot up from December due to the Sabarimala season.
