Cardamom prices ruled steady on good buying support even as arrivals declined last week at the auctions.

Christmas holiday and the ensuing New Year festivities have slowed down picking, market sources said.

Meanwhile, active covering by upcountry dealers continued with prices moving up at the KCPMC auction on Sunday.

Total arrivals were 378 tonnes last week, whereas it was at 645 tonnes the previous week.

Empty pipelines in the consuming centres, coupled with low carry-over stocks in the primary and terminal markets continued to support demand.

Besides, likely non-availability of the material this year from the other main source, Guatemala, is also being pointed out as the reason for the strong buying support, trade sources said.

The annual demand, according to trade estimates, is around 25,000 tonnes. It is growing at an estimated rate of five per cent per annum following the growth in the economy. But there is no corresponding increase in production.

The substantial increase in imports in the last fiscal could be attributed to growing demand.

Exporters are not actively buying as current prices are higher. However, they bought an estimated 30-35 tonnes last week.

At the Sunday auction held by the Kerala Cardamom Processing and Marketing Company, arrivals dropped to 29.3 tonnes from 118.5 tonnes the previous Sunday and the entire quantity was sold out. The maximum price was ₹997 a kg and the minimum ₹664. The auction average increased to ₹829.68 a kg from ₹801.56 a kg the previous week, PC Punnoose, General Manager, CPMC told BusinessLine .

Arrivals this season are so far 10,250 tonnes against 11,210 tonnes during the same period a year ago. Sales were 10,058 tonnes against 10,844 tonnes .

The individual auction average as on Sunday was ₹793 a kg and on the corresponding date last year was ₹554 a kg.

Prices of graded varieties remained unchanged last week and prices in the open market in Bodinayakannur (in ₹\kg) were: 8mm bold-1,025; 7-8mm-850; 6-7mm-750; below 6 mm-700.

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