Arecanut farmers need not panic over public notice, says Campco president

Mangalore, May 29: A letter written by the Director General of Foreign Trade to the Campco President, in response to the panic evoked among the areca farmers due to the public notification of the government bringing regulations on the import of areca, has clarified that the public notice was issued is in the interest of the farmers.

Informing the same to media persons on Tuesday, Campco President Konkodi Padmanabh said the letter dated May 24, written by Director General of Foreign Trade Anup K Pujari states that the public notice concerns itself with only duty free imports of arecanut either on the basis of advance authorisation or DFIA. Thus the new notification will affect only the duty-free areca imports and not the duty paid imports.

According to the public notice issued on May 15, as areca has not been included in the export list of Standard Input and Output Norms (SIONS), a regulation has been laid on the leather manufacturers who import areca for the sake of tannin. Hence, areca nut shall be permitted for imports only if areca is specifically mentioned in the SIONS and is imported by actual users.

The Campco President said that with the new regulation, no traders and companies (specially leather companies) can import areca for tannin purpose.

Where as, gutka and pan masala companies will have the freedom to import areca. The regulation will help the areca growers of India in many ways and there is no need for the farmers to panic, he said, adding that due to panic created becuase of the public notice, the areca price has gone down by Rs 10 to 15 in the last few days.

“Campco has been demanding for the complete ban on areca import in India. The studies have shown that poor quality areca causes cancer and poor quality areca is mainly imported from the foreign countries. Therefore the government should take steps to ban areca import,” he said.

Responding to the impact of gutka ban in Kerala, Padmanabh said that the ban would not affect areca market here. Kerala is the lowest consumer of areca with only 3 per cent of areca being traded to Kerala. Hence, the ban would not impact the trade to a great extent, he said.

Meanwhile, he assured the areca farmers that Campco is doing its best to maintain the areca price between Rs 145 and Rs 155.

“The farmers should not sell the areca owing to any panic. Let the farmers wait for some more time till the rate goes upwards,” he said.

Due to constant clearing of the areca stock, the Campco has less stock of (65,000 quintals) areca in the gowdowns this season, informed Padmanabh.