Saturday, November 16, 2019

Government fixes support price of coffee

The National Tea and Coffee Development Board (NTCDB) – on the occasion of the 15th National Coffee Day – today fixed the support price of coffee for the current fiscal year.
Celebrating the National Coffee Day in Gulmi today, NTCDB has set the support price for six varieties of coffee, according to the board that has fixed the price of fresh cherry ‘A’ grade coffee (organic certified) at Rs 85 per kg while ‘B’ grade coffee (organic uncertified) Rs 75 per kg, Rs 5 less than last year. “Last year, price of ‘A’ grade fresh cherry and ‘B’ grade fresh cherry is set at Rs 85 per kg and Rs 80 per kg, respectively.”
Likewise, the board has set Rs 425 per kg for parchment ‘A’ grade coffee and Rs 375 per kg for parchment ‘B’ grade coffee. Last year, the price was settled at Rs 425 per kg and Rs 410 per kg for ‘A’ grade parchment coffee and ‘B’ grade parchment coffee, respectively.
Likewise, the board has set Rs 140 per kg for dry cherry ‘A’ grade coffee and Rs 90 per kg for dry cherry ‘B’ grade coffee. In previous year price of ‘A’ grade and ‘B’ grade dry cherry was set at Rs 140 per kg and Rs 100 per kg, respectively.
The board fixes the floor price annually to ensure that farmers get a reasonable rate for their crop and are not exploited by middlemen in the supply chain. The coffee farmers, however, say that they have no complaints about the reduction in the minimum support price for this year, but they want the government to formulate policy to increase production to benefit from rising market demand.
According to the board, the price of coffee has been fixed based on the investment cost of coffee farming. Currently, coffee farming is done on around 61,228 hectares of land. However, a total of 1.1 million hectares of land across the country is suitable for coffee farming, according to the board. Some districts like Gulmi, Palpa, Argakhanchi, Lalitpur, Tanahu, Kavre, Sindhupalchowk, Lamjung, Kaski, Gorkha, Syangja, Parbat and Baglung are successfully growing and producing coffee beans and production has been increasing gradually.
According to the board, Nepal exported a total of 530 tonnes of coffee in the last fiscal year while in the fiscal year 2017-18 a total of 513 tonnes of coffee had been exported to different countries. While the country had exported coffee worth Rs 996 million, coffee worth Rs 980 million had been imported in the last fiscal year. Nepal is exporting coffee beans mostly to Japan, America and European countries.
Due to surge in demand, the earnings from coffee export increased by 6.28 per cent compared to a a rise of 49 per cent of coffee imports in the fiscal year 2018-19.
Nepal exported Rs 99.61 million worth of coffee in the last fiscal year – up from Rs 93.72 million in a fiscal year ago in 2017-18, according to the board. “During the period, Nepal imported coffee worth Rs 65.89 million and Rs 98.01 million, respectively.”
Nepal imported eight-folds to 1,262 tonnes in the review period, whereas exports remained fairly stable at 84 tonnes, which means Nepali coffee is expensive than imported coffee. Nepal coffee is recognised as one of the high value agri products in the international market. Nepali product costs up to $10 per kg abroad.
Coffee is grown in 42 districts of Nepal that produces and exports Arabica coffee, which is typically grown at an altitude of 1,000 to 2,000 meters. According to the board, Nepal produced 530 tonnes of coffee in the fiscal year 2018-19, compared to 513 tonnes in the fiscal year 2017-18.
According to Trade and Private Sector Development Project – a European Union-funded programme –1.19 million hectares of land in Nepal is suitable for coffee farming. “Of them, some 61,228 hectares have the potential to give high yields,” it revealed, adding that Nepal is utilising only 4 per cent of the acreage potential.

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