Cardamom prices ruled steady last week on nearly matching demand-supply situation, due to the auction holiday on account of Id-ul-Fitr last week, at the auctions.

However, there was a marginal improvement in the prices in the open market at Bodinayakannur on Monday, trade sources there said.

The individual auction average price hovered at around Rs 540 a kg.

Domestic demand

Exporters, after the Ramzan, started covering and bought around an estimated 30 tonnes last week. Upcountry buyers were active but were buying small quantities. However, the domestic demand is expected to pick up by mid-September when the Diwali purchases would commence. Thus, the festival and wedding season could create a positive impact on the market provided the growers could regulate the supply by holding back some quantity of their produce as a self-imposed market intervention exercise, market sources told Business Line .

As the second and third round of picking is under way of the nearly bumper crop arrivals at the individual auctions continued to be huge. Last week, total arrivals stood at 355 tonnes, and of which, about 351 tonnes of cardamom were sold.

Good quality cardamom arrivals were at around 30-40 per cent and much of the material arrived were of average quality and inferior variety, market sources in Bodinayakannur told Business Line . Arrival of 8mm bold colour capsule was of negligible quantity. “Non-arrival of good quality material coupled with heavy arrivals led to the price fall,” they claimed.

Non-availability of sufficient workers to handle the huge quantity every week is also negatively affecting the trade, they said. Torrential rain in the high ranges is also creating problems, they pointed out.

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