Rising temperature, production-drop push up cardamom prices
Cardamom prices has started moving northwards to reach ₹2000 reportedly because of lower production in the prevailing sultry weather.
Prices in the first week of March was in the range between ₹1300-1400.
Traders attributed the reasons for the prices to shoot up to the absence of sufficient rains in the production centres during the last three months and the rising temperature to the optimum level of 34-35 degree Celsius.
This has hit the crop very badly, leading to drying up of tillers and panicles. Such damages to the plant are likely to have an impact on the crop in the next season.
Earlier, planters have their own water resources to irrigate the land. However, the drying up of water levels in their land in the extreme heat conditions also hit irrigation of plants. In all probability, the next harvest season for July-August will depend on the availability of continuous rains for at least a couple of days, traders said.
However, the rising prices seem to have not derived any benefit to majority farming community and it helped those traders who procured the commodity at the time of declining prices. Fearing a further drop in prices with the starting of summer showers, many small traders did not procure enough quantity.
The plant damage for current year is estimated at 20 per cent which is likely to go up if the growing areas face further scarcity of summer showers in the coming days, they pointed out.
According to auctioneers, the market is witnessing a subdued demand after Ramadan and is likely to pick up in July-August.
On the export front, the market is witnessing a subdued demand especially from the Gulf nations after Ramadan. However, the drought conditions in Guatemala have affected their crop badly, bringing the prices on par with Indian raw material. Guatemala has seen a sharp fall in crop to around 30,000 tonnes this year from 54,000 tonnes last season.