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Bangalore, Aug 22: Tapioca starch and Sago (sabudana) are scorching the trading market with price gains close to 12% over last month as supplies shrunk over recent weeks, according to statistics available with Sagoserve, the country’s lone government trade exchange for tapioca products in Salem, Tamil Nadu.
Tapioca has been hurt by scanty rains in the cultivated areas of Tamil Nadu. Tapioca market in India is estimated to be in the range of Rs 200 crore annually. Currently, average bidding for Sago runs at Rs 1,370 a bag (90kg), a jump from Rs 1,230 a month ago while Tapioca starch price surged to Rs 960 from Rs 857. Though Kerala tops in tapioca production in the country, Tamil Nadu with 82,000 hectares under tapioca cultivation stands first in terms of processing tapioca into starch and sago.
In Tamil Nadu, Salem district plays major role in serving the Indian sago market with 650 processing units. The domestic and export prices are functions of supplies at Salem Sagoserve. Tapioca (a ten month crop) supplies peak during November to February.
During off-season, tapioca tubers procured from few hilly regions like Kolli, Kalrayan and Pachamalai are traded in the market. But due to scanty rains this time, small farmers of these regions could not uproot the tubers due to inadequate moisture level in the soil. This has led to supply squeeze which in turn hardened their prices, said Mr Rajasekar, a leading trader in the Salem sago market. Trade experts forecast the prices would cross Rs 1,000 in the begining of September. However, the prices are expected come down starting from October but it would be higher than last season due to expected shortage in arrivals as the farmers in Kadalur and Vilupuram areas have shifted to groundnut, sugarcane and turmeric anticpating bumper returns this year.
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