Does that Chinese mouth freshener smell of areca? Well, it could be from Shivamogga

Mangaluru: If there is a whiff of change in India-China relations, it could be coming from something as unique as tender arecanut which the Chinese want to import from Karnataka and use to produce mouth fresheners.

A three member delegation from Kou Wei Wang company of China is touring areca growing region of the state and has held a second round of talks with Central Arecanut and Cocoa Marketing and Processing Co-operative (CAMPCO) Limited.

The Chinese company has sent its team to train CAMPCO on selecting tender arecanuts and processing it. The peel of the tender arecanut will be used for manufacturing mouth fresheners.

“The team is visiting Shivamogga and Tumakuru. The delegation will examine the processing and quality of tender areca after which we will send a container (of about 10 tons) of tender nuts to China on a trial basis. They have placed a demand for 3,200 quintals initially which will increase later. The mouth freshener produced by the company has a good demand in China. They are ready to market it here in the future,” CAMPCO chairman K Padmanabha said. “The Chinese company has proposed a price of Rs 160 per kg of tender areca.

“We will finalise our rate after calculating the cost incurred for processing. They are ready to negotiate. China produces 1,22,000 tons of areca which is much lesser than its domestic demand. So they have come to India,” he said. Interestingly only the peel of the tender nut is used for mouth fresheners and the company is ready to send the nut back to India! The nut can be used for gutka and pan masala.

Tender areca from the red arecanut producing region will be used for exports instead of white arecanut. The delegation has brought samples of mouth fresheners to CAMPCO.