Private company manipulating copra prices, say farmers in delta region

The East Coast Coconut Farmers’ Association (ECFA), Peravurani, has alleged that the price of copra and coconut prices in Tamil Nadu are being artificially kept low by a private company amid reduced production and rising demand.

In a statement here on Thursday, ECFA president E.V. Gandhi said pest attacks and continuous rain had sharply hit yields in key coconut belts such as Pollachi, Coimbatore, Pattukkottai, and Peravurani in Thanjavur district as well as in parts of Kerala. Under normal conditions, lower output should have pushed prices up, he said.

“Within a week, copra prices have fallen from about ₹262 a kg to ₹192 a kg, without any genuine increase in arrivals,” he alleged. Traders and farmers were being told that “large volumes of copra loads” were coming into the market, though this was not borne out by conditions on the ground, he added.

Mr. Gandhi said a farmer in Peravurani, who earlier sold coconuts at ₹35–₹37 per nut, was now compelled to accept ₹30 as the rates were being benchmarked to prices in Kangayam, where corporate-linked procurement was stronger.

The association pointed out that Kerala’s cooperative agency Kerafed had acknowledged that local production was insufficient and that the State depended on Tamil Nadu for its requirement of coconuts and coconut oil, including bulk orders of around 100 tonnes a day. “When Kerala is short of coconuts and is turning to Tamil Nadu, it is illogical to claim surplus production as the reason for a price crash,” Mr. Gandhi said.

If this “manipulation of prices” continued, ECFA has threatened to launch a Statewide agitation, including calls to boycott products made from Tamil Nadu coconuts by the concerned company, social media campaigns, and protests in front of its offices. The association has urged the State government and the Agriculture Marketing and Agri Business Department to intervene and ensure fair, transparent price discovery for coconut growers.