The Hindu Business Line : Cardamom prices up as season comes to an end

The auction held at Kumily on Wednesday by the Cardamom Processing and Marketing Company (CPMC) was the last auction of the season. Other auctioneers had also stopped auctioning claiming that the arrivals were very thin and it was uneconomical to conduct the auctions. They said they would resume auctions as and when reasonable quantity of cardamom was available from the harvest of next season. Harvesting of the next crop is expected to commence late Jul 2007, they said.

However, according to Spices Board sources, cardamom auctions have to be conducted through out the year. Besides the thin arrivals, auctioneers have to settle the accounts with the traders, which might require at least two months, trading sources claimed.

At the CPMC auction, prices moved up by Rs 20 a kg from that of the previous Wednesday, Mr P C Punnoose, General Manager of the company told Business Line. He said 70 tonnes of the commodity arrived and of this, 69 tonnes were sold. The increase in arrivals was due to release of stocks held by the growers/traders, he said.

The maximum price fetched was Rs 488 a kg, while the minimum was Rs 210. Average price was Rs 367.51 up by about Rs 26 a kg from that of May 25 auction.

Buyers were active. Exporters bought four tonnes of the commodity.

Total arrivals during the season up to May 31 stood at 8,114 tonnes against 9,280 tonnes in the same period last season, while the sales were at 7,458 tonnes during the current season compared to 8,663 tonnes last season. Thus, there had been a decline of over 1,000 tonnes at both arrivals and sales at the auctions in the current season.

Prices of graded varieties were: AGEB Rs 450 - 400, AGB Rs 390 - 400, AGS Rs 370 - 380 and AGS1 Rs 325 - 335 a kg. Prices in the local market in Bodinayakannur were AGEB Rs 440 - 450, AGB Rs 370 - 380, AGS Rs 360 - 370 and AGS 1 Rs 300 - 320 and bulk was fetching Rs 350 - 480 a kg.

Though the southwest monsoon has set in over Kerala, the cardamom- growing region has received insufficient rains, almost one-third of the normal showers received in the area, growers pointed out.