The Hindu

Mangalore, Dec 21: Central Arecanut Marketing and Processing Cooperative (CAMPCO) on Wednesday expressed satisfaction over the assurance of Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar and Union Commerce Minister Kamal Nath to impose a floor rate for imported arecanut.

Addressing presspersons here, president of the multi-State cooperative S R Rangamurthy said that a delegation comprising of himself, district in-charge Minister Nagaraj Shetty, former Minster R V Deshpande and president of Thotagars of North Kanara Shantaram Hegde met the Ministers in Delhi on Tuesday December 19.

The Ministers assured the delegation that they would look into the possibility of imposing a floor rate (also known as base rate) on imported areca, he said.

Rangamurthy said that market for superior quality white areca was suffering because of the poor quality imported areca. The delegation showed the samples of imported areca to the Ministers, he said. He said that about 60 per cent of the imported areca was being used for manufacturing gutkha. He said that such areca was being pushed into the market at lower price.

Shetty said that the CAMPCO had also suggested to the Ministers to have a single port entry for imported areca. This would help the authorities to monitor the quality and quantity of the areca, he said.