Date:08/07/2006 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2006/07/08/stories/2006070802050800.htm

Back SAFTA impact

K.K. Mustafah

PRICE FALL ANTICIPATED: A worker plucking coconut from a tree in a farm near Thrissur, Kerala. Price of coconuts is likely to fall further as a result of the newly signed South Asian Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) where import duty on coconut has been reduced to 20 per cent.

Prices for copra and coconut have been going down perceptibly and the contribution of Kerala, a major coconut producer, has gone down to 48 per cent from 58 per cent earlier.