Cardamom Exports May Rise As Local Prices Fall.

Cardamom exports are looking up as the domestic market declines on higher arrivals. Exporters are procuring cardamom from the auction centers for the Ramadan demand from West Asia. Indian exports during the last financial year had declined by 50% due to the high domestic prices.

“Cardamom prices are weak due to higher arrivals at the end off the season. We are getting 40-50 tonne as against the usual 10-15 tonne during this time of year,” P C Punnoose of Cardamom Processing Marketing Company, Kumily, told FE.

Farmers were holding stocks expecting prices to move up. Now they realize that the prices may come down as demand wanes from North India. They are selling more cardamom, he added.

“The new crop is likely to arrive in the market by June-end due to the extremely good summer showers,” Punnoose said.

Cardamom plants start flowering early with early rains resulting in harvest of fruits in June and July. Good supporting rains in May-June would help in a huge crop . Auctions for the new crop usually starts in August after the Monsoon break taken by the auction centers.

On Thursday, the average auction price stood at R605.44 per kg and on Wednesday the auction average was R609.97 per kg as 44 tonne were auctioned. Average price during the month of January stood at R1341.95 per kg, which declined to R989.87 by March.

K Satheesh Babu of Agricultural Market Intelligence Centre of Kerala Agricultural University feels that the market will bounce back due to the good export demand.

The Spices board feels that the prevalent market conditions do not warrant any such decline. For the last two years import of Cardamom from Guatemala is not very significant. The production of cardamom in Guatemala is also reported to be around 20,000 tonne against their normal production figure of 27,000 tonne to 30,000 tonne.

Exports from India had declined due to the premium on Indian cardamom compared to the Guatemala crop. India lost its traditional markets like Kuwait, Japan and Oman to Guatemala, while retaining Saudi Arabia. Indian exports during 2009-10 were significantly higher due to the fact that Gautemala had a smaller crop due to natural calamities. However, exports declined in the last FY as Indian prices increased considerably. “Exports are back due to the lowering of the market. The domestic market is getting support from the export demand. Otherwise it would have declined further,” Punnoose said.

Source : financialexpress.com