• PAGE ONE
• INDEX
• HOME

Kerala planters plea for higher import duty

Our Bureau

Thiruvananthapuram, Dec. 8

SUSPENSION of duty-free import of plantation crops for one year, increasing the customs duty on tea and coffee to bound rates as per the norms of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and export of natural rubber to Russia under debt repayment scheme are so me of the suggestions made by the Association of Planters of Kerala (APK) to tide over the problems plaguing the plantation industry in the south.

Office-bearers of APK, representing growers of tea, coffee, natural rubber and spices, told newspersons here on Thursday that the two-year long financial crisis, which had affected all plantations, big or small, could lead to unrest among lakhs of planta tion workers in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

Mr G.J. Ancheril, Chairman, APK, said with the prices of tea, rubber and coffee ruling far below the costs of production, most plantations were unable to meet even the cost of wages, let alone other inputs. ``The situation is the worst among medium and s mall plantations which do not have the financial wherewithal to hold out much longer,'' he added.

He said the average price of tea at the Kochi auction so far this year had been Rs 51.47 per kg as against Rs 62.41 per kg during the corresponding period last year. The cost of production of a kg of tea, on the other hand, varied between Rs 55 and Rs 65 depending on the size of the grower and the inputs used.

Similarly, the average price of Robusta coffee grown in Kerala had ruled as low as Rs 33 per kg for five months at a stretch, compared to the average price of Rs 60 per kg for the whole of 1999.

For natural rubber, the average price of RSS-4 grade had been Rs 31.48 per kg against the benchmark price of Rs 34.05 per kg as notified by the Union Government in September 1998, Mr Ancheril said.

He said that as much as 60 per cent of the cost of production in plantations could be attributed to wages alone. With the prices ruling low, plantations were finding it increasingly difficult to pay even the statutory wages to their employees, leave alon e remitting provident fund and other contributions.

He said the low prices were due to a host of reasons, the chief among them being import of plantation commodities for domestic consumption as per the terms of trade agreements. The import at minimal duty, as was the case with tea from Sri Lanka, during t imes when domestic availability was in surplus drove down the price realisation for Indian products, he added.

Another factor affecting the south India's plantation crops was the import of commodities from countries such as Vietnam and Indonesia for re-export. This, besides reducing demand for Indian commodities, was also responsible for spoiling the brand equity of Indian plantation products abroad.

He suggested that the export promotion zones should be allowed to procure commodities from domestic markets where all the grades were available. In the case of natural rubber, the customs duty should be raised from 25 per cent to 50 per cent through prov isional safeguard measures.

Mr Ancheril also wanted propagation of rubberisation of bitumenous roads in all States. Above all, there should be concerted efforts for export promotion of all plantation crops.

He said APK would join the south Indian delegation to Delhi next week to request the Union Government to raise import duties on plantation crops in the context of the imminent opening of imports after the removal of quantitative restrictions from April 1 , 2001.