The Hindu Business Line : Good demand, short supply push up cardamom prices

Cardamom prices continued its upward swing at the auctions held in Kerala and Tamil Nadu during the week on short supply and good demand. Reduced arrivals due to the late harvesting by almost half from that of the corresponding period last year fell short of the demand.

At the Kumily auction held by Cardamom Processing and Marketing Company (CPMC) the arrivals have stood at 33 tonnes as against 60 tonnes on the same day the previous season, according to trading sources.

Buyers from north India were actively buying to meet their future requirement for the ensuing festivals, such as Ramzan, Navaratri and Deepavali. Exporters have also made their presence by buying, albeit negligible quantity.

They bought three tonnes of the commodity on Wednesday and two tonnes on Sunday. The high prices seem to have restricted them to cover for their immediate commitment, they said. Compared to the Sunday auction the prices moved up by Rs 25-30 a kg on Wednesday and that has pushed up the average price to Rs 433.06 a kg from Rs 417.12 a kg at Tuesday’s auction by the Header Systems at Nedumkandam. The maximum price on Wednesday was Rs 550 and minimum Rs 250 a kg. 8 mm bold with good colour was fetching Rs 525-550 while 7-8 mm Rs 475-500 a kg. 6-7mm was being sold at Rs 425-450 a kg. Current bulk was fetching Rs 435-450 a kg. Almost 75 per cent of the arrivals were of the new crop, they said.

Arrivals

At the newly introduced e-auction the arrivals appear to have shrunk due to lack of acquaintance with the new system by some of the participants. Arrivals on Monday at the Cardamom Producers’ Association (CPA) at Bodinayakannur were at less than two tonnes.