Mangaluru: Pakistan says no to top quality arecanut of coastal region

Mangaluru, 13 Mar 2019 [Fik/News Sources]: The arecanut that is produced in the district of Dakshina Kannada and coastal region of Kasargod is world famous for its top quality. However, in Pakistan, which has an annual demand of 25,000 tonnes of arecanut, there is no demand for the same that is grown in the coastal region.

During the Kargil War of 1999 the commercial trade between India and Pakistan was totally disrupted just like the present situation after the Pulwama attack. However, later, due to the efforts of the then president of CAMPCO (Central Arecanut and Cocoa Marketing and Processing Co-operative), former minister B Nagaraja Shetty, arecanut trade between India and Pakistan got revived as he took part in the Indo-Pak Chamber of Commerce convention.

During the period of 2001-2003, when the market rate of arecanut was very low, CAMPCO was trying to expand the market. The traders of Pakistan showed interest in buying the arecanut of coastal region also. In 2003, CAMPCO had supplied approximately 1000 tonne of arecanut in two containers through ship. The cost of this deal was around Rs 16 crores. It was said that the white arecanut of coastal region gives more pleasure to the pan lovers of Pakistan.

It was expected that the export of arecanut to Pakistan will increase after India gave Pakistan the MFN (Most Favoured Nation) status. However, now the situation is entirely different.

B Nagaraja Shetty, former minister and president of CAMPCO says, "There is an annual demand of around 25,000 tonnes of areacanut in Pakistan. However, the problem is that they do not want the high quality of arecanut that is available in coastal districts. Their demand is for arecanut which is of low quality. They get low grade arecanut from countries like Indonesia and Sri Lanka. So they did not show much interest to buy arecanut from our district."

Suresh Bhandary, managing director of CAMPCO says, "The rate of arecanut collapsed after the Kargil war. So attempts to sell arecanut to Pakistan were made and it was necessary also. After that the market of arecanut got improved and the local market for the product was stable. We did not receive any demand from Pakistan also."