Arabica parchment prices crosses Rs 10,500 per bag,at six years high

Arabica parchment coffee variety prices crosses Rs 10,500 per bag which is at 6 year high.Arabica Parchment prices have hit this mark after a long time.But the shortage of labour that is delaying the pickings.

Labour shortage due to Covid

Growers in key coffee producing areas of Karnataka such as Kodagu,Chikmagaluru continue to face challenges such as bad weather and labour shortage which hampered the current harvest.

“The overall cost of production is going up,we used to budget an annual increase of 5-7 per cent, but now it is 20 per cent. It is difficult to manage and meet both ends unless we get a price like this. Unless we get about eight bags of parchment per acre, we are not able to meet the costs.” said N Bose Mandanna, a large grower at Suntikoppa in Kodagu.

Coffee growers depend mainly on migrant labourers from North Karnataka,Bihar and Assam states workers. Due to Covid lockdown direct trains have been cancelled from Bihar and Assam which has affected the labour movement.The panchayat elections in the State has also impacted the migrant labour arrivals.

“Production of Arabica Cherry variety will go up by about 10 per cent this year,” said S Appadurai, Chairman, Karnataka Planters’ Association.

The higher price to the Arabica is because of delay in harvest of this variety. There could be some softening, once arrivals pick up in January  said Ramesh Rajah, President of the Coffee Exporters Association.

Source: The BusinessLine