The Hindu : Business : `Details of areca nut import not available'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jul 29, 2006

Business

Business

`Details of areca nut import not available'

Raviprasad Kamila

Poor response to CAMPCO queries from customs offices

MANGALORE: Efforts made by Central Areca nut and Cocoa Marketing and Processing Cooperative Limited (CAMPCO) here to know the quantity of areca nut imported to the country for the past two years under various import schemes have received poor response from various customs offices in major ports in the country, according to sources in CAMPCO.

The customs authorities of two major ports have furnished details to CAMPCO. But sources in CAMPCO said the areca nut imported had been undervalued. They have doubts over details of the quantity of import.

According to sources in CAMPCO, 16,000 tonnes of areca nut had been imported through a major east coast port between April 2004 and September 2005. Areca nut was imported by a Delhi-based company at the rate of $270 to $300 a tonne for extracting tannin. As per the details given by the customs office, 2,573.49 tonnes of areca nut was imported through the same port between April 1, 2001 and March 13, 2006. According to the customs office of a major port on the east coast in the north, only 5,800.19 tonnes of areca nut was imported in 2004-05.

Only these two customs authorities have furnished details of arecanut import to CAMPCO.

Sources said that more tannin could be extracted from domestic areca nut as imported areca nut was of poor quality.

They said that CAMPCO had also written to the office of the Director General of Foreign Trade in Delhi last December to provide details on the import of areca nut. But it has not received the details. CAMPCO wanted information on the scheme-wise import of areca nut.

According to a report by the Central Plantation and Crops Research Institute (CPCRI) recently, samples of imported areca nut sent to it by the customs authorities were found to be of poor quality.

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