KARACHI, Aug 8: Many sweet supari brands (purely based on betel nuts) have either disappeared from market or in acute shortage, as a result of seizure of betel nuts in sizable quantity by the Customs authorities since January 2003.

Even if some popular brands are available, shopkeepers are now charging double of the actual price. The 50-paisa supari is now priced at one rupee per packet while the supari packet, which was priced at Re1, is now being charged at Rs1.50 or Rs2.00.

A shopkeeper said that the shortage of supari had gripped the markets for the last one month.

In another development, the price of betel nuts has fallen to Rs600 per kilogram from Rs900 per kilogram two weeks back, despite the seizure of over 500 containers by the Customs Appraisement Department since January 2003.

The decline in prices of betel nuts is a bit strange phenomenon, when the Customs have been holding the commodity in their custody for the last seven months.

Market sources said that two reasons could be attributed to the price fall of betel nuts. Either the market requirement is now being filled through huge smuggling or many market players, who had already piled up huge stocks, are releasing the nuts slowly in order to make heavy windfalls. In January, the price of betel nuts was ranging between Rs27 and Rs30 per kg.

Customs officials have already claimed that not a single kilogram has been released since January.

The recent phenomenal price hike of betel nuts have already led to the suspension of production by the leading supari makers during the last one month.

A leading supari maker told Dawn on Friday that the sky-rocketing rates had made production unfeasible and unprofitable, as a result the company had downsized the number of staffers. He said other companies were also cutting jobs since there had been no work to do.

He said that thriving smuggling had led to the cut in the current rate of betel nuts in the markets, but the cut was still insufficient for the company to resume production. A registered sales tax paying company in the formal sector usually has 150-300 people on the job.

Chairman All Pakistan Saunf Supari Packers Association # (APSSPA), S.M. Ghayasuddin told Dawn that the rising nut rates had virtually threatened the financial viability of leading supari makers (only sweat chalia), thus resulting in suspension of production.

Supari makers (mainly saunf, copra and other ingredients with low quantity of betel nuts) have also been partially affected due to the higher rates of nuts. The association has registered 14- 16 members of the formal sector, while an estimated 50-60 units are producing supari in the unorganized sector.

Market sources said that the chief minister’s approval two weeks back for imposing ban on sweet supari, gutka and mainpuri had further caused a stir in the market, thus giving an open hand to the local police to demand handsome money from small cabin owners for keeping these things.

They said that majority of cabin owners were now avoiding to keep sweet supari, gutka and mainpuri in their cabins, despite the fact the approval by the chief minister has not yet translated into an effective official law.

On Wednesday, the Sindh High Court (SHC) disallowed the withdrawal of writ petition by the betel nut importers against detention of their allegedly contaminated consignments by the Customs Department and directed the later not to release the nuts till its judgment. The division bench of SHC observed that the petition fell in the category of public interest litigation and could not be disposed off as withdrawn unilaterally in view of the importance of the issue involving public health.

On this development, Mr Ghayasuddin said that as long as the issue of releasing consignments by the Customs prolonged, smugglers would continue to get an open chance to flood the markets.

He said that there must be some quick decision on the issue, otherwise, smugglers would completely capture the markets and the local industry (depending on betel nuts) would have to close down their business.