Futures trading in coconut oil, copra soon

By Our Special Correspondent

KOCHI, OCT. 12. The long- awaited `futures trading' in copra and coconut oil is to commence by the third week of this month.

All the formalities have been completed in this connection. The required infrastructure for the trading is also in place, official sources said.

A public limited company, First Commodity Exchange of India (FCEI), was floated with a total paid up capital of Rs. 1 crore for early commencement of `futures trading' in copra and coconut oil.

The equity participation of each member would come to Rs. 50,000.

In addition, another Rs. 30,000 might have to be invested towards margin deposit etc., by each member. There had been good response for the membership.

The trading would be for the domestic market through `open cry out' system, they said.

The sources pointed out that futures trading was the only solution to the present market conditions.

This would give advance information as to what would be the price after two months, they said.

Copra production in Kerala had been stagnating at 4.5 lakh tonnes for over a decade though neighbouring States have made vast strides in this field.

For example, in Tamil Nadu it had grown to three lakh tonnes in 2000 from a meagre 30,000 tonnes in 1990.

Similarly, in Andhra Pradesh copra production went up to 50,000 tonnes in 2000 from 6,000 tonnes in 1990.

Thus, the availability of copra in the country had increased to 8.5 lakh tonnes in 2000 from 5.5 lakh tonnes 10 years ago.

High productivity and low input cost in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh had made the existing prices of copra and coconut oil remunerative, they said.

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Section  : Southern States
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