Visakhapatnam: Lockdown takes the shine off Anakapalle jaggery market

Visakhapatnam: The jaggery producing season has come to an end in Andhra Pradesh. The lockdown had disrupted supply of jaggery lumps at Anakapalle , the second biggest jaggery market in the country.

The jaggery market was shut down from March 22 to April 14. Later, the market opened twice a week but there was shortfall in the supply of jaggery lumps compared to the previous season.

KV Sharath Kumar, a third-generation trader in Anakapalle, said the lockdown hit the trade . He said they initially struggled to supply jaggery lumps to Odisha, Jharkhand, West Bengal and a few other states due to restriction on transportation.

Various varieties of jaggery command attractive prices during the season—low-quality jaggery (of Rs 290-Rs 320/ 10 kg lump) and better varieties (Rs 360-Rs 430 per 10 kg lump), said B Ravi Kumar, secretary, Anakapalle Jaggery Market Yard. Between April 15 and May 20, the market received over 2.18 lakh jaggery lumps (3,271 tonnes) with a turnover of over Rs 10.9 crore, he added.

The Anakapalle market received 48,060 tonnes of jaggery worth Rs 146 crore in 2016-2017 while it was 35,498 tonnes (Rs 99 crore) in 2017-18 and 33,509 tonnes (Rs 91 crore) in 2018-19.

In 2019-2020, the Anakapalle market received 25,402 tonnes of jaggery worth Rs 78 crore. Due to the lockdown, the market failed to receive over 6,000 to 7,000 tonnes of jaggery as the delay in making jaggery due to lockdown affected production due to evaporation of juice content in sugarcane.

“We are hopeful that the demand for jaggery from other states may increase in the festive season. If the demand for Anakapalle jaggery comes down, we will incur huge losses,” said traders at the Anakapalle market.