Arecanut growers urge Union government to increase minimum import price to ₹360 per kg

A delegation, comprising CAMPCO, meets Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prahlad Joshi in Delhi

A delegation of arecanut growers met Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Pralhad Joshi in Delhi on Wednesday and appealed to him to impress upon the Union government to increase the minimum import price or minimum tariff value for arecanut to ₹360 a kg or above.

The delegation comprising A. Kishore Kumar Kodgi, president, Central Arecanut and Cocoa Marketing and Processing Cooperative Ltd. (CAMPCO), Mangaluru, told the Minister that the government had fixed the minimum import price of arecanut at ₹251 a kg in 2017.

The minimum import price or tariff value should be increased to discourage the import of arecanut to protect the interests of domestic arecanut growers and domestic arecanut market.

Mr. Kodgi told the Minister that the cost of cultivation of arecanut had been fixed at ₹250 a kg in 2017. Since then, there has been a hike of nearly 30% on the cost of cultivation. Now the cost of cultivation for white variety of arecanut works out at ₹360 a kg and it was at ₹409 a kg for red variety.

Hence, the Commerce Ministry should be impressed upon to issue a fresh notification through the DGFT for fixing the minimum tariff value for import of arecanut to above ₹360 a kg based on the current cost of cultivation, he said.

The delegation said that imported arecanut continued to flood the domestic market threatening the stability of the domestic market. The import takes place by road, air, and sea routes.

It said that betelnut which attracts an import duty of 108% on a minimum import tariff value of ₹251 a kg, is being smuggled into India from Myanmar with impunity and is entering the country through Silchar in Assam and Falakanta in West Bengal from where it is sent by rail/road to Nagpur, Kanpur, etc. The same is being sold in Indian market in the range of ₹250 to ₹260 a kg.