Storage dilemma hits turmeric trade

TURMERIC COUNTRY: There's more to storing Turmeric then meets the eye.

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Sangli: The Rs 500-crore turmeric market of Sangli, the turmeric city of India, supplies the golden gleam to numerous Indian brides-to-be.

Every year over a 1,000 tonnes of turmeric arrive at Sangli from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and other parts of Maharashtra where it's auctioned, processed, packed and packed away.

The traders have a unique way to store turmeric, which has come down through the decades, and generations. They bury it in pits called Katis.

Each Kati stores 20 tonnes of turmeric for at least five years. But last year's floods changed everything.

“We lost 50,000 bags of turmeric, which belonged to both the traders and the farmers. It was a total loss of over Rs 7 crore,” said Shah Ratanshi Khimji Proprietor Sharad Shah.

Out of the stock lost in flood, 70 per cent was financed by banks but none of it was insured.

It was only after the flood destroyed crores worth of their stock that the traders realised the importance of getting their stock insured.

But this year insurance companies are refusing to insurer stock that is stored underground forcing the traders to move their stock into warehouses a process that's proving expensive.

Banks now insist the stocks they finance must be stored in warehouses. But for traders, this means an annual cost of Rs 100 a bag. So they're not inclined to change. Besides, they say, Katis can store turmeric for longer duration.

"When we stored in Kati's the carbon dioxide would get trapped underground so no worms could survive there but in warehouses after a year or so we get worms in our stock," said Proprietor Shanthilal Mohanlal.

Turmeric is available only for three months a year and must be stored for nine. Traders fear bad storage could spell the death of their lifeline.