The Hindu Business Line : Cardamom up on short supply

Kochi, Sept. 4 Cardamom prices continued their upward swing on good demand and short supply despite it being the peak harvesting period. The average price on Wednesday’s auction by CPMC Kumily increased Rs 20 a kg to Rs 615 from last Sunday’s KCPMC prices.

Arrivals stood at 34 tonnes and the entire quantity was sold. Maximum price was Rs 800 and minimum Rs 440 a kg. Domestic and export buyers were active.

Exporters bought four tonnes of 7 mm and above green bold capsules for selective buyers mainly in Saudi Arabia, Mr P.C. Punnoose, General Manager, CPMC, told Business Line. He said because of the festival season, demand was expected to move up in the coming days.

Meanwhile, trading sources in Bodi said there was good demand from markets such as Kanpur, Delhi, Jaipur, Agra and Kolkata because of the festival season.

Jeddah, Riyadh markets

Demand for 7 mm to 8 mm green bold capsules was coming from Jeddah and Riyadh even at the current rates and as such, the exporters were buying, they said. There appeared to be a mismatch between demand and supply, pushing up the prices, and this situation was likely to remain for at least a month, they predicted.

At the Tuesday morning auction in Bodinayakannur by the Header Systems, the average price moved up to Rs 602 a kg. The second auction of the day of a new entrant, recently-launched South Indian Green Cardamom Company (SIGCC), said to be of planters, could not be completed due to some technical snag in the computer system. Around 2,000 cardamom planters are stake holders of this company.

At the Header Systems’ auction held in the morning, 20 tonnes of the commodity arrived and almost the entire amount was sold. Delay in starting the first auction in the morning has led to a delay in the second auction, which was to be conducted in the afternoon.

In the lot

Only 60 to 70 of the 243 lots could be auctioned as the traders/dealers did not want to hold the proceedings beyond 5.30 p.m. Each lot holds 125 kg and auctioning of the 243 lots is estimated to take about 4 trading hours to complete, trading sources said.

Auctions of these two companies on Tuesdays in the morning and afternoon were being held at Vandanmettu in Kerala’s Idukki district. As the dealers/traders are based at Bodi, it is not convenient for them to attend both the auctions as the travelling time works to around 4 hours.

As a result, the morning session used to start late as also the afternoon session, leading to an incomplete auction, they said. For their convenience, the two Vandanmettu auctions were shifted to Bodi by the Spices Board.

The technical snag in the computer system was responsible for the stoppage of the second auction, trading sources said. Weather conditions in the cardamom-growing areas remained favourable and hence there could be an improvement in the crop in the coming weeks, they said.

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