Chilli Prices to Remain Firm on Good Exports, Rain Damage.

Kochi: Chilli prices are likely to remain firm on good exports and report of crop damage due to recent recent rains in some parts of India. The new crop will be delayed by 20-25 days , a report from the agricultural market intelligence centre (AMIC) of Acharya N G Ranga Agricultural University (ANGRAU) said.

Generally, chilli arrivals from all over India hits the market from mid- October to May end. It begins with the first crop from Madhya Pradesh in the middle of October followed by Karnataka in November, Maharashtra in December and Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu in January. Red chilli arrivals extend till May, traders said.

The team that works under the P Raghu Ram, principal investigator of AMIC told FE that cyclonic rain has not damaged the crop as feared.

“Our assessment team has surveyed the affected areas and has reported less than 5-10% of the crop has been damaged due the rains,” he said. Some crop loss has also been reported from the Guntur region because of old seeds, he added.

The effect of arrivals will remain subdued and the dip in prices will be limited due to this factor, trade sources said.

The AMIC had estimated that area under chilli will come down due to better returns from turmeric and cotton. Area under chilli crop in Guntur belt, one of the largest chilli farming area of the world could drop by 20%, the AMIC report said.

Sudha Acharya at Kotak Commodity Services said that the market would remain firm due to the extremely good export demand. “There are reports that some crop has been damaged in coastal Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. The crop will also come late to the market,” she added.

According to a data from the Spices Board, Chilli exports rose 28% from a year earlier to 117,500 tonne during the first half of the FY 2010-11. Spices Board sources told FE that exports of chilli has crossed 2 lakh tonne during the last fiscal on account of the Chinese shortfall.

Source : financialexpress.com