MANGALURU: The import of arecanut, which had gone beyond 1 lakh tonnes during 2014-15, has come down in 2015-16. The figures given by the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry in Lok Sabha show that the country imported 67,824 tonnes of arecanut worth $159 million during 2015-16 as against 1.10 lakh tonnes (lt) worth $229.96 million during 2014-15. Import of arecanut is a cause of concern for growers in the country. The arecanut co-operatives have been asking the government to control the import of arecanut as India is self-sufficient in its production.
India produces around 7 lt of arecanut every year. The total production in the country stood at 7.02 lt in 2015-16 against 7.27 lt in 2014-15. While the import crossed 15 per cent of the total production in 2014-15, it stood at 9.66 per cent of total production in 2015-16.
In one of the interviews to BusinessLine, SR Satishchandra, President of Central Arecanut and Cocoa Marketing and Processing Co-operative (Campco) Ltd, had expressed concern over the large-scale import of arecanut as it would have an impact on the livelihood of arecanut growers in the country.
In a reply to the Member of Parliament from Dakshina Kannada Nalin Kumar Kateel, in Lok Sabha on Monday, the Union Minister of State for Industry and Commerce Nirmala Sitharaman said that India imported 31,571 tonnes of arecanut from Sri Lanka and 11,283 tonnes from Indonesia during 2015-16.
Though the volume of import has come down from countries such as Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka during 2015-16, it has gone up in the case of Indonesia. The country imported 11,614 tonnes of arecanut from Bangladesh during 2015-16 as against 39,176 tonnes in 2014-15. In the case of Nepal, it came down from 12,232 tonnes in 2014-15 to 4,474 tonnes in 2015-16. Sri Lanka, which is another major exporter of arecanut to India, exported 31,571 tonnes in 2015-16 against 40,856 tonnes in 2014-15.
