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The cloves market is likely to rule steady as the availability from all the origins is by and large is matching demand.
The Indian crop, though below annual demand, is estimated to be good this year, trade sources claimed. Total output is estimated to be somewhere between 1,500 and 2,000 tonnes during the current season.
Production in Kerala’s cloves growing regions – Idukki and Kollam districts – is projected to be better than last year. Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu is the other main area where cloves are grown.
The commodity of superior quality is sold at ₹950 a kg in the Kumily market, a trade source told BusinessLine.
Domestic demand is estimated to be between 12,000 and 15,000 tonnes and as the indigenous production continues to stay below the demand, the country continues to remain a net importer of cloves.
Imported are made from countries such as Indonesia, Madagascar, Sri Lanka, Zanzibar etc.
It is widely used in curry masalas, bakery items, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, ayurvedic drugs, etc and hence it has a steady market, they said. According to the trade sources in upcountry markets, prices are in the range of ₹675-850, depending on quality and origin.
Colombo cloves are being traded at ₹800/kg. Indonesia, world’s top producer of cloves, is reported to have a good crop estimated at around 73,000 tonnes from plantations spread over 3,31,450 hectares.
Similarly, Zanzibar and Madagascar are also said to be having a moderate crop this season.
Prices, according to Indian importers, have fallen to $8,500-9,000 a tonne. Import duties in India vary from zero per cent to 16 per cent depending on the origin, they said.
The area under cloves in India, according to Spices Board Statistics, was at 2,060 hectares in 2012-13 with a total production of 1,060 tonnes. It was grown in the high ranges of Kerala extensively until over a couple of decades ago.
The continuous fall in cloves prices, labour shortage coupled with high wages has compelled the growers to shift to other crops. Now it is sparsely populated in the district where the farmers have not felled it, PC Punnoose, a grower in Kumily said.
Indian imports in 2013-14 stood at 10,900 tonnes valued at ₹554.96 crore.
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