Cocoons, which have been commanding a good price in the last three months, crossed a milestone on Wednesday when a kg of bivoltine cocoon fetched ₹1,043 at the Government Cocoon Market at Ramanagaram.
According to Assistant Director of Sericulture Department, Ramanagaram, Venkatesh, farmers were receiving good prices for cocoons since the onset of winter in late November, but on Wednesday the highest price crossed the ₹1,000 mark for the first time. The highest bid was ₹1,043 for a kg of bivoltine cocoon.
The minimum price for which a kg of bivoltine cocoon was sold on Wednesday was for ₹450, but the average price for the day worked out to ₹868.
Similarly, the crossbreed variety of cocoons too fetched a good price. While the maximum price for a kg of crossbreed cocoon was ₹801, the minimum was ₹400. The average price of a kg of crossbreed cocoon sold at the market on Wednesday was ₹762.
Sources in the Sericulture Department attributed the good demand for cocoons to the decline in output. The output of cocoons normally dips during winter season as the yield of mulberry leaves too comes down. As against an average of 35 tonnes of cocoon that are transacted every day at the cocoon market, barely 20 to 25 tonnes is coming to the market now. “There have been days in other seasons when the transaction at the market has crossed 70 tonnes,” said an official.
On Wednesday, a total of 152 lots of bivoltine cocoons and 49 lots of crossbreed cocoons were transacted at the Ramanagaram market.
Sources also said that the production of cocoons dipped during winter season when mulberry plants get affected by powdery mildew disease and silkworms develop a fungal infection.
Besides, the quality of bivoltine cocoons produced during the winter season was good because of climatic conditions, encouraging the reelers, particularly the automatic reeling machine owners, to purchase large quantities of good quality cocoon in bulk and stock them.
