Domestic and Export Market Intelligence Cell functioning at the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) has advise d chilli farmers to sell the produce upon harvest to curtail loss.
DEMIC experts foresee a downward slide in the price movement due to burgeoning carry forward stock in all the major chilli growing states.
Currently, samba chilli is trading around Rs 6,500 to Rs 7,000 a quintal in Virudhunagar market. This is expected to slip to Rs 6,200 to Rs 6,300 a quintal during the harvest season, which is March – April. 'There is very little chance of the prices going up because of the huge carry forward stock. We would therefore recommend chilli farmers to offload the produce soon after harvest,' the DEMIC source said.
Surveys show that 85 to 90 per cent of the produce is consumed domestically, with just 10-15 per cent left for exports. The 2012-13 export target was 2.40 lakh tonnes. The produce is processed and exported as chilli powder, dried chillies, in pickle form and as paste, flaked chilli and chilli oleoresins to destinations such as Sri Lanka, US, Nepal, Mexico, Malaysia, Bangladesh, UAE, Indonesia and China
The State accounted for a production of 24,500 tonnes of chilli in 2011-12.
The market arrivals generally start from November, with the first crop from Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka, followed by Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh in December.
Chillies produced in Tamil Nadu hit markets in Kovilpatti, Sathur, Sankarankoil, Rajapalayam, Kamuthi, Muthukulathur and Virudhunagar markets from second fortnight of March till May.
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