KOLKATA: Decline in flow of supply from farmer’s end has led to a flare-up in cumin seed price. With cuminseed arrival dwindling to 3,000 bags on a daily basis over the past five days at major mandis, the wholesale cumin seed price has increased Rs 75 per quintal to touch Rs 11,425 per quintal on Monday at its main terminal market at Unjha in Gujarat.
Normally this is the lean season for cumin seed arrival. But this time around, the spice’s arrival at 3,000 bags, on daily basis, appears a bit short as against enquiries placed by traders, which is estimated to be 5,000 bags per day, eventually leading to the current rally in the spice price.
Right now, the market is slogging with a stock of 9 lakh bags of cuminseed as compared to 12 lakh bags around this time last year. Driven by a dull sentiment in cuminseed trading, its November delivery price remains almost stable at Rs 11,032 per tonne at NCDEX on Monday against Rs 11,000 per tonne, quoted by the end of last week.
Currently, cumin seed originating from India quoting at $2,200 per tonne is the cheapest available variety in international markets as against $2,450, $2,600 and $2,400 per tonne, originating respectively from Syria, Turkey and China.
Hit by the global recession, exports of many spices from India decline during the first four months of 2009-10, including cumin seed. As per the Spices Board’s latest trade figures, cuminseed export in volumes dropped 15% to 15,950 tonnes. However, with hike in unit value realisation, export earnings from this spice stood at Rs 174 crore ($35.71 million), down by 8% from Rs 187 crore in the corresponding period last year.
Source : The Economic Times