The Colombo Coconut Auction, conducted by the Coconut Development Authority (CDA), was held online for the first time and over 500,000 coconuts were sold at an average price of Rs. 38.20 per coconut.
The auction is usually held every Thursday at 10 a.m. in Colombo but was held online for the first time in the 26 years that it has been conducted due to social distancing measures in place to contain the spread of COVID-19 in Sri Lanka.
According to CDA Director of Marketing Development and Research Sampath Samarawickrama, the eAuction saw the participation of seven suppliers, including the five Government suppliers Chilaw Plantation, Kurunegala Plantation, National Livestock Development Board (NLDB), Coconut Research Institute (CRI), and Coconut Cultivation Board (CCB).
When manually done, buyers sometimes directly purchase from the suppliers, but the CDA mainly looked at coordinating between the suppliers and brokers at the eAuction.
While the farmer’s price can be between Rs. 45 to Rs. 50 per coconut at these auctions, yesterday’s e-auction’s average price was slightly less than Rs. 40.
If the farmer’s price is around Rs. 35, the retail price comes to around Rs. 65 and per kilo price for factories comes to around Rs. 75.
The Colombo Rubber Traders’ Association with the approval of the Government and the Ministry of Health and Indigenous Medial Services commenced its weekly auctions beginning with one auction per week at the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce on 9th April 2020 at 2.00 pm.
The last rubber auction took place on 13th March 2020 and the next auction scheduled for 17th March 2020 did not take place due to the Government imposed curfew.
The Ministry of Plantation Industries and Export Agriculture facilitated this initiative by requesting the respective authorities to assist the rubber sector and its supply chain to allow commencement of work and obtain curfew passes without disturbances.
The quantities on offer at the 9th April 2020 auction were Latex / Skim / Scrap Crepe – 298,650 Kg and RSS – 26,971 Kg excluding re-prints from the last auction held on 13th March 2020.
Highest price paid for Latex Crepe 1X amounted to Rs. 350/- per Kg. RSS grades remained unquoted.The Colombo Rubber Traders’ Association will continue the auctions with one sale per week and will resume to two sales per week once the prevailing situation in the country returns to normalcy.
(LI)