Cardamom prices ruled steady at auctions held in Kerala and Tamil Nadu last week on good buying support despite moderately better arrivals.
The individual auction average price vacillated between Rs 645 and Rs 665 a kg. There was good buying by North Indian dealers while export buying was not much, market sources told Business Line.
While some expect arrivals to shrink by November end, and therefore it is better to cover now, some others hold the opposite view, they said. At present harvesting is in full swing and hence arrivals are expected to be good. "However, given the current trend, a demand-supply mismatch this season appears unlikely," they said.
Domestic demand
Strong buying support by upcountry dealers indicates that there is no supply from Guatemala, the lone competitor of India in the world cardamom market, because of the poor crop there, they pointed out. On the other hand, the domestic demand is said to be growing at a moderate rate, given the rise in the standard of living of people consequent to the growth in the country's economy. Add to this some quantity of Indian cardamom (small) moving into neighbouring countries through cross-border trading, they said. Thus demand is growing at a moderate rate consistently in recent years. This favourable scenario is expected to last for some more time to come and prices, therefore, are likely to remain stable for the rest of the season, they claimed.
At the Monday (October 19) auction of the CPA in Bodinayakannur, total arrivals stood at 13.5 tonnes. Of this 13 tonnes were sold. The maximum price fetched was Rs 703.5 tonnes and the minimum Rs 604 a kg. Average price stood at Rs 655.95 a kg, auction sources told Business Line.
Total arrivals at the auction held on Sunday by the KCPMC, Kumily, at Vandanmettu stood at 41 tonnes and the entire quantity was sold out, Mr P.C. Punnoose, General Manager, CPMC, told Business Line Maximum price was at Rs 748 a kg and minimum Rs 488 a kg. Average price was at Rs 653.20 a kg. Total arrivals during the week stood at 299 tonnes.
During the week exporters were said to have bought 10 tonnes, trading sources in Bodinayakannur said.
Arrivals up
Total arrivals during the current season up to October 18 were at 2,380 tonnes and of this 2,330 tonnes of cardamom were sold. As against this, the arrivals and sales in the corresponding period last season were 2,271 tonnes and 2.096 tonnes, respectively. The weighted average price as on Sunday was at Rs 680.16 a kg against Rs 600.80 a kg in the previous season.
Prices of graded varieties were AGEB Rs 740-750; AGB Rs 685-695; AGS Rs 660-670 and AGS1 Rs 640-650 a kg. Prices in the local market at Bodinayakannur were AGEB Rs 725-735; AGB Rs 675-685; AGS Rs 650-660 and AGS1 Rs 625-635 a kg. Bulk was fetching Rs 625-750 a kg.
The weather conditions so far have been favourable, some major growers in Idukki said. If the growing areas received normal North-East Monsoon for two to three weeks in the coming days, that would improve the late crop, they said.
According to them, the current crop would be less by 20 to 30 per cent because of the protracted dry spell in the last summer without usual showers. They are of the view that the total national output of the current crop would be somewhere between 10,000 and 11,000 tonnes. The national production last season is estimated at around 14,000 tonnes, they claimed.
Source : Business Line