New Delhi: The government on Friday increased the minimum support price for milling copra by up to Rs 445 to Rs 12,027 per quintal for the 2026 season, a move aimed at ensuring better returns to coconut growers and boosting production to meet rising demand for coconut products.
The MSP for ball copra has been raised by Rs 400 to Rs 12,500 per quintal for the same period, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said after the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The MSP has been fixed for the ‘fair and average quality’ of both milling and ball copra on the recommendation of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP).
The National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd (NAFED) and the National Cooperative Consumers’ Federation (NCCF) will continue to act as Central Nodal Agencies for procurement of copra under the price support scheme, Vaishnaw said.
The higher MSP is expected to incentivise farmers to expand copra production to meet growing demand for coconut products both domestically and internationally, an official statement said.
Since 2014, the government has substantially increased MSP for copra. The MSP for milling copra has risen from Rs 5,250 per quintal in the 2014 marketing season to Rs 12,027 per quintal for 2026, a growth of 129 per cent. For ball copra, the increase has been from Rs 5,500 per quintal to Rs 12,500 per quintal, registering a 127 per cent gain.
In the Union Budget of 2018-19, the government had announced that MSP for all mandated crops would be fixed at least 1.5 times the all-India weighted average cost of production to provide remunerative prices to cultivators.
The copra marketing season in India typically runs from January to April, with major producing states like Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala contributing significantly during this period.