The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Wednesday approved hike in minimum support prices (MSPs) for copra for 2024 season by ₹250-300 per quintal from current season.
The MSP for fair average quality of milling copra has been fixed at ₹11,160/quintal — up three per cent from ₹10,860 in 2023 and for ball copra at ₹12,000, up two per cent from ₹11,750/quintal for 2023 season.
CACP recommendations
Briefing media after the CCEA meeting, Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur said the approval is based on recommendations of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices and views of major coconut growing States. He further said the decision to hike the MSP would ensure a margin of 51.84 per cent for milling copra and 63.26 per cent for ball copra over the all India weighted average costs of production (A2+Family Labour).
The announced MSP of copra for 2023 season is in line with the principle of fixing the MSP at a level of at least 1.5 times all India weighted average cost of production as announced by the Government in the Budget 2018-19, Thakur said. He also highlighted that in the last 10 years, the government has more than doubled the MSPs of milling copra and ball copra from ₹5,250 per quintal and ₹5,500 per quintal, respectively, in 2014-15.
National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (Nafed) and National Cooperative Consumers’ Federation (NCCF) will continue to act as nodal agencies for procurement of copra and de-husked coconut directly from farmers under Price Support Scheme (PSS) when market rates fall below MSPs.
In the current 2023 season, the government has procured a record 1.33 lakh tonnes of copra, at the cost of ₹1,493 crore, benefiting around 90,000 farmers. The procurement has increased by 227 per cent from the 2022 season, the government said in a statement.
Copra prices drop
The announcement of new MSP has come amid concerns raised by traders over the reported move by Nafed to dispose of 90,000 tonnes of milling copra procured by it from the open market. The move may to further hit copra prices, which were ruling at ₹95 per kg and above in last week of November.
Copra prices since dropped to ₹88 in Kerala and ₹85.50 in Tamil Nadu markets, almost at par with year-ago levels.
Milling copra is used to extract oil, while ball/edible copra is consumed as a dry fruit and used for religious purposes. Kerala and Tamil Nadu are major producers of milling copra, whereas ball copra is produced predominantly in Karnataka.