Small cardamom continued to gain flavour on good domestic demand amid thin arrivals at auctions held in Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

"With in a week the prices have gone up by ₹100 a kg to stay at over ₹1,000 a kg following good domestic demand and squeezed supply. The quality of the material arriving was, however, not at expected levels", Ranganathan, a Bodinayakannur dealer told Business Line .

At the auction conducted today in Bodi by the Idukki Dist. Traditional Cardamom Producer Company Limited, the average price At the auction being conducted today in Bodi by the Idukki Dist.Traditional Cardamom Producer Company Limited, 28.9 tonnes of cardamom and arrived and almost the entire quantity traded. The average price increased to ₹1017.70 a kg from ₹991.35 a kg last Monday. The maximum price stood at ₹1,255 a kg.

He said exporters were not very active as the prices were unattractive while exportable variety material was also not available.

However, the situation, he said, would change after August 10 when the arrivals and the quality of the capsules are expected to improve.

"Till then the current trend is likely to persist", he said. Arrivals last week rose to 384 tonnes from 11 auctions last week from 252 tonnes from 9 auctions the previous week.

The weekly auction average soared to ₹1,011 .30 a kg from ₹935.65 a kg the week before last.

Individual auction average was vacillating between ₹991 and ₹1,069 a kg.

Total arrivals during the current season up to July 22, 2017 were at 19,919 tonnes and the sales were at 18,972 tonnes.

Individual auction average for the season as on July 22 was at ₹1,093.56 a kg.

Prices today at Bodinayakannur, the main trading hub for the aromatic spice, were (in ₹/kg) : 8mm green bold 1,450; 7 -8mm 1,200; 6-7mm 950 ; below 6 mm 850-875. Good bulk being traded at ₹1,020-1,050 a kg.

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