While the minimum support price for copra was fixed at Rs 32.50 a kg, the market price was as low as Rs 22. Nafed procured nearly 80,000 tonne and has started milling them. With coconut oil flooding the market, the price has remained in the range of Rs 28-29 a kg. Further procurement will only worsen the situation, they feel. While he has promised to put curbs on rubber import through duties, they are sore that nothing has been mentioned in the case of copra.

Worse still has been the import of palmoil, which touched the 2-lakh tonne mark in December. And according to the Cochin Oil Merchants' Association (COMA), the copra crushing industry in the State is on its deathbed. Says association secretary N Ananthan, hundreds of medium and small copra crushing units in the state have either closed down or are on the verge of closure. In the case of large-scale millers, a lot of money has been invested in modern machinery and interests on loans drain their revenue. He adds that there is total apathy of the Centre, towards the issue of coconut growers and oil merchants. Interference by Nafed, Kerafed and Marketfed has added to the problems. The unrestricted growth of the milling industry and creation of capacity, totally incommensurate with the the raw material availability has also created problems, he adds. Copra production in the state is unvenly distributed. And many of the milling units were located at non-producing centres, Mr Ananthan charged. The industry isbasically an agro-based one and its fortunes depend on the availability of copra. The present condition has rendered many of the workers jobless, as the industry is unable to provide full-time employment. Most of the workers in the auxillary units are also unemployed.

COMA charges the successive governments with forming corporations and opening new crushing units, with scant care for viability. A Kerala State Coconut Development Corporation was established in 1975 and had two copra milling units. This Corporation wound up in 1997 because of mounting losses due to mismanagement. With the Kerafed units not utilising even 20 per cent of their installed capacity, there is every chance of this Federation also going the Kerala State Coconut Development Corporation way, COMA fears.

The Centre has been preparing incentive packages to attract new industries, by-passing the old ones, it is alleged. COMA feels that if the the Rs 110-crore EEC aid, was utilised for giving interest-free loans to farmers for irrigation and manuring, the yield would have doubled and the fund would have remained a revolving one. As long as the policy of fixing copra and coconut prices, on the basis of coconut oil remains, the importance of the milling industry stays and it will have a vital role to play, according to COMA. Incidentally, branded coconut oil prices continue to remain high, inspite of the fall in coconut oil prices. It is here that the Board and other agencies should step in and promote the sale of coconut oil in other parts of the country.