Spices Board has decided to resume cardamom auction from October 24. It has directed the auctioneers to conduct auctions on the day fixed for each of them.

A statement issued by the Board said that the cardamom auctions were being resumed following the directions from the Kerala High Court to resolve the stalemate in auctions.

The Spices Board has notified a lower bidding rate of Rs 2 against Rs 5 fixed earlier. This is also higher than the Re 1 suggested by the expert committee set up by the board. This revised bidding rate will come into effect from the auction conducted at the Cardamom Processing and Marketing Cooperative (CPMC), Kumily, on Wednesday in Puttady.

There will be no auction on October 23, a notified holiday for the cardamom auction centres on account of Ayudha Pooja.

The stock pooled for auction on September 25 that saw a boycott by the traders in protest against the higher bidding rate, would be allowed as a special case, to be auctioned on Wednesday afternoon.

To meet the demand, trading was taking place in the open market in Bodinayakannur where 30 per cent of the normal volume was being handled, Mr Ranganathan, a dealer, told .

Current bulk is being sold at Rs 725-850 a kg while graded varieties AGEB, AGB, AGS and AGS-1 are sold at Rs 1,020-1,050; Rs 800-850; Rs 650-670 and Rs 610-620 a kg respectively, he said.

“Given the current demand trend the market is likely to remain steady,” the dealer added.

Many government agencies have evinced interest to bid in the auctions, the Board release said.

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