Govt.’s decision to prune the gift hamper makes it a ‘sweet’ Pongal for jaggery traders

The rise in demand for jaggery, ahead of Pongal, has come as a good augury for traders in Tiruchi

The rise in demand for jaggery, ahead of Pongal, has come as a good augury for traders in Tiruchi.

“Business has been better than before in 2025. Most of the bulk festival purchases are closed by the first week of January. Since jaggery is not part of the State government’s Pongal gift rations, many people have been buying it separately,” E. Senthilkumar of Ananda Traders, a veteran jaggery and sugar trader in Gandhi Market, told The Hindu.

Mr. Senthilkumar said that prices had hovered at ₹50-52 a kg for urundai vellam (jaggery ball) and ₹55-57 a kg for the achchu vellam (jaggery cube) in recent weeks.

In the retail sector, rising awareness about the dangers of chemical inputs in sugarcane cultivation had created a new market for organically grown alternatives, traders said.

“We are seeing an increased demand for organic palm sugar jaggery and coconut sugar as they are considered better for dietary reasons and quite similar in taste to sugar. We have an overwhelming demand for date sugar,” said S. Balaji, co-founder of the online store B&B Organics based out of Lalgudi.

Coconut sugar is made from dehydrated and crystallised coconut palm sap while date sugar is produced by grinding the dried fruit to a fine powder. Though the new variants cost upwards of ₹400 a kg, they are popular among health-conscious customers.

Traders in Tiruchi commonly source jaggery from the districts of Salem, Namakkal, Erode, and Pollachi.