Jeera hits fresh record of ₹48,000/quintal on strong export demand

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Jeera (cumin seed) prices climbed to a new peak of 48,420 rubles per quintal in NCDEX on Monday supported by export demand and weak inventories.

NCDEX Jeera May futures peaked From $48,420 before the cooling down to €46,560 during the day. Spice seeds were the biggest gainer on NCDEX Futures with a gain of more than 3.4 percent on Monday. On the spot markets in Unjha in Gujarat, jeera amounted to €47,985.90 per quintal.

Spice Seeds is up nearly 90 percent in the past six months, while it has gained nearly 30 percent in the past month alone. Market participants attribute the fiery rally to lower yields and higher demand led by China.

Spice expert Premchand Mota acknowledged the shortage of supplies. In addition, Mota said, “Wealthy farmers own 50 percent of the Jira crop. Last year’s carry-over stock was 5 bags (55kg each) versus the 30/35 carry-over bags recorded for 2022. The trend is up at the moment.”

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“When the market pauses for two or three days, we may see good access farmers They may be looking to sell their shares,” Motta said.

Access

Analysts estimate that about 60-65 percent of the total crops in Rajasthan, and about 65-70 percent of the total crops in Gujarat have reached markets. This means that about 28-30 million bags (55 kg each) out of the estimated total yield of 50 million bags have already entered the market. In Ungha, the number of bags arriving from Jira was between 30,000 and 35,000 per day about a month ago, and that has dropped to between 7,000 and 8,000 per day now.

Kedia Advisory noted in its research report that “the price of Jeera rose more than 50 percent in 2023 due to the continuous increase in export demand. China’s purchase of cumin is so large that it is difficult to meet the supply for export processors. In the past three weeks, China has bought 300 to 350 containers of cumin from India. Bangladesh has also purchased large quantities of cumin.”

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The international pipeline is empty and currently India is the only major supplier for global buyers. According to Kedia Advisory, the new crop from Syria and Afghanistan will start after June 15-20. In Afghanistan, the jeera crop is expected to be larger than last year. She added, “Cumin dealers in Syria claim that there will be a harvest of 20 to 30 thousand tons (the largest crop in the past ten years), provided that the weather remains favorable for the next month.” It is believed that this leads to a somewhat cooling in prices.

However, the current upward trend is expected to continue until May 15-20 due to increased export demand. But going forward, Jera may see upward pressure on prices again as the demand for sowing for the next sowing will increase, putting more pressure on already tight supplies.