Illegal cardamom imports from Guatemala to impact local trade.

Mumbai, Jul 9 (PTI) Cardamom Planters' Association have demanded action against illegal imports of cardamom from Guatemala, which may impact the country's trade. The illegal activity of importing inferior quality cardamom, allegedly reaching North India by cross border means from neighbouring countries of Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan, is impacting the livelihood of planters, who are already reeling under high cost of cultivation, Cardamom Planters Association president S V Subramanian said here. The Cardamom Associations from Tamil Nadu and Kerala have sent representations to ministries related to agriculture and trade, complaining that the Guatemala illegal imports is damaging a heritage crop of India.

Many unscrupulous traders are importing low and inferior quality cardamom from Guatemala into India illegally by using trans-shipment of goods. "This is adversely affecting our trade and resulting in prices being artificially suppressed, thus robbing the whole cardamom industry of fair prices," Kerala Cardamom Dealers Chambers Secretary Santhosh Joseph said. Last year, India had a bumper harvest of around 18,000 tonnes of cardamom, which resulted in a record 400 percent rise in exports at 4,700 mt, as against 1,200 mt in 2010-11.

This year, auction sales have already crossed 17,000 mt, thus leaving little crop for auctions in the coming days. The new crop for 2012-13 season will not reach the market before September 15th as delayed rainfall has damaged more than 50 percent of the crop, leading to delayed flowering and developing of cardamom pods. The fear of El nino, as announced by IMD, seems more strengthened now with Kerala hill areas where cardamom plantation exist, hardly receiving rains in last few days, even though this is the peak monsoon season, cardamom planter Raju Valayani said. Market statistics show that pesticide prices rose by more than 300 percent within a span of 6 months. Labor cost rose by 35 percent, while due to delayed and scant rainfall, irrigation cost almost doubled. Planters say if prices do not increase by 50 percent from current levels, they would suffer losses, and would not be in a position to afford further investments for next year in cardamom.

Source : ibnlive.in.com