Small cardamom market after showing a steady to slightly firmer trend for a couple of weeks has shown an upsurge on Tuesday at the auction held in Kerala.

The auction average at the auction conducted by South Indian Green Cardamom Company Limited today has soared to ₹1,065 a kg from ₹1,004.05 a kg last Tuesday.

Except for this auction, last week the individual auction average remained between ₹989 and ₹ 949 a kg.

Total arrivals today stood at 84.5 tonnes and almost the entire quantity was sold out.

Stockists have entered the market. They and exporters were actively covering and that in turn has aided the price rise today, Ranganathan, a dealer in Bodinayakannur, told Business Line.

The dry spell, prevailing in the growing regions of Idukki district, where 75 per cent of the cardamom is grown, is signalling of a further drop in the crop, said PC Punnoose, General Manager, CPMC. Decline in the north-east monsoon which is expected in the coming days would result in severe water shortage in the growing areas, he said.

This phenomenon has also prompted the stockists and others to cover now, he said adding Diwali buying is also under way and it is expected to stay for two - three days.

Harvesting is in full swing now in all the estates and according to the trade in Bodinayakannur 75 per cent of the capsules arrived was from the new crop and that was fetching good price while the remaining 25 per cent from the previous crop was fetching comparatively low price.

Unlike in the normal season only three round of picking is likely to take place this season as the harvesting has started after a three-month delay, they said.

Exporters were active last week. They were estimated to have bought around 80 tonnes of exportable grade capsules at prices ₹1,050-1,100 a kg, they said.

Good colour current bulk was being traded at ₹1,050-1,060 a kg.

Arrivals at the auctions last week dropped to 625 tonnes from 635 tonnes the previous week.

The individual auction average was by and large steady last week and was vacillating between ₹949 and ₹1,004 a kg as against ₹935 and ₹1,014 a kg the previous week.

Total arrivals during the season from August 1 up to October 8 were at 4,767 tonnes and sales were at 4,418 tonnes.

The individual auction average for the season as on October 1 stood at ₹37.59 a kg. Last week auction average was at ₹969.15 as against ₹961.80 a kg the previous week.

Prices on Monday in the local market, Bodinayakannur moved up and they were in ₹/Kg: 8mm bold good colour 1,250 -1,275 ; 7- 8mm 1,100; 6mm -7mm 925 and below 6 mm: 560.

Weather conditions continued to remain unfavourable as the region was not receiving the usual rainfall, growers in Idukki said.

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