G.K. Nair

Kochi , Dec. 30

THE plantation sector in South India, with the exemption of rubber, had nothing to cheer about in 2005, as the prices of the major commodities tea, pepper, cardamom and coffee failed to improve.

TEA: Over production without a corresponding level of growth in domestic consumption coupled with a drop in exports pushed prices down this year also.

The low prices forced many growers to neglect their plantations. As a result, the quality of the leaf is inferior. Also, high wages and input costs have put many plantations under stress.

According to Upasi statistics, south Indian output increased to 157.3 mkg from 153.6 mkg in January-October 2004.

Meanwhile, the exports from the country have dropped to 148.5 mkg from 164.2 mkg in January-October 2004.

The South Indian average price, which was at Rs 68.80 a kg in 1998, had crashed to Rs 41.63 a kg in 2002 and further dropped to Rs 39.90 in 2003. However, it moved up to Rs 47.01 a kg in 2004. But it fell to Rs 42.61 a kg in January-October 2005 from Rs 46.62 a kg in the same period the previous year.

If the failing trend continued, the average price for 2005 is not likely to be more than Rs 40 a kg and the price trend is indeed gloomy.

COFFEE: Despite a projected drop in global coffee production, the prices failed to improve to the expected levels. Average prices of other mild coffee and robusta for 2005 were Rs 111.85 a kg and Rs 51.32 a kg respectively. According to farmers, though the prices, this year, were better than that of last year, it was unremunerative.

Coffee production in 2005-06 is estimated at 2,81,900 tonnes as against 2,75,500 tonnes last fiscal. Exports are expected to go up to 2.18 lakh tonnes (lt) from 2.04 lt in 2004-05.

PEPPER: The pepper growers are an unhappy lot this year too because of the low prices. Availability of imported pepper in the domestic market mainly from Sri Lanka under the FTA agreement kept the domestic prices at lower levels. The Kerala Government's market intervention exercise of procuring 4,800 tonnes of black pepper at Rs 75 a kg directly from the farmers and the Centre's granting of export subsidy of Rs 7 a kg recently also failed to make any major impact on the prices. On the other hand, low prices in the international market have restricted the country's exports. As against 14,150 tonnes exported in April-March 2004-05, the exports in the same period this year stood at 8,900 tonnes.

VANILLA: The vanilla growers are also in dire straits as the prices of cured beans plummeted to $20-25 a kg following no demand from overseas buyers. The green bean is bought at Rs 100-125 a kg in place of a remunerative price of Rs 250-300 a kg. The world demand in 2005-06 is estimated at 1,000 tonnes as against a projected production of 2,200 tonnes and of which India's share is expected to be 125 tonnes.

CARDAMOM: Oversupply as a result of a bumper crop this year kept the cardamom prices at rock bottom. The average price for 2005 remained at around Rs 220 a kg as against over Rs 300 a kg last year. The production is estimated at around 13,000 tonnes for 2005-06 compared with 11,500 tonnes in 2004-05. Farmers having high yielding varieties may not have been affected by the low prices as the favourable weather conditions this year must have led to higher productivity. However, the majority small holders having low yielding varieties had a difficult time this year. The low prices have pushed up export demand in December.

CASHEW: Meanwhile, the raw cashewnut production in the country is to decline by 30 per cent in 2005-06 due to prolonged and widespread rains in the western coast, which has affected the crop in Kerala, Karnataka, Goa and Maharashtra.

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