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The Union Government does not have an estimate of the quantity of arecanut traded outside the tax network.
Replying to unstarred questions by Dakshina Kannada Member of Parliament Nalin Kumar Kateel in the Lok Sabha on April 4, Union Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said that the Directorate of Arecanut and Spices Development under the Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare has reported that around 15% of arecanut is traded by cooperatives such as the Central Arecanut and Cocoa Marketing and Processing Cooperative Ltd (CAMPCO), Mangaluru; the Totagar’s Cooperative Sales Society Ltd (TSS), Sirsi; the Malnad Areca Marketing Cooperative Society Ltd (MAMCOS), Shivamogga; the Tota Utpannagala Marata Sahakara Sangha (TUMCOS), Channagiri, and 85% of the arecanut is traded by private traders. A good quantity of arecanut is traded through APMCs established in arecanut growing areas.
