The hot season is drawing to a close, but green coconut prices in town have not come down. On Tuesday, 6 October, an Agricare24 reporter found coconuts selling from vans and small vehicles across the city at Tk 150 to Tk 200 each, depending on size and quality.
Masud Khan has been bringing coconuts in from the villages for about ten years. He started with about Tk 1,000 and now sells 1,500 to 2,000 a day, he said. By his account a coconut costs Tk 60 to Tk 70 in the village; with the wages of the climber who picks it, transport and other costs, it costs Tk 80 to Tk 90 by the time it reaches the city. Across several vans he makes a profit of Tk 1,000 to Tk 1,500 a day.
"Winter is coming and you can feel it in the villages already, but coconut prices in town have hardly fallen," Masud Khan said, putting the price down to the costs of collecting and transporting the nuts.
Traders say coconut water is in demand both for the heat and because dengue patients need fluids. The report notes, however, that no market survey or sales figures show how far dengue has raised demand.
Buyer Harun-or-Rashid said coconut water brings relief when the heat leaves you exhausted, so he buys it despite the price; he had paid Tk 150 for one that day.
There is no government reference price or independent survey for green coconuts. The retail picture of Tk 150 to Tk 200 is based on what the reporter saw and on what sellers and buyers said.
Photo: Kritzolina / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Source: Agricare24
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