India set for good cardamom crop
India’s new cardamom crop has started and is expected to be of a decent size after favourable levels of rainfall.
Mumbai-based Emperor Akbar Green Cardamoms said in a June 26 market report: “There has been excellent rainfall in the plantations with good climatic conditions for cardamom.”
The company noted that currently, the new crop consisted of about 20 to 25% of the total arrivals. “The new crop arrivals are mostly of the small and medium grades. Some arrivals are even mixed with the old crop,” it stated.
The production volume and quality was expected to be very good. “We estimate that India’s production should be at least 18,000 tonnes. We expect to revise this number upwards in the coming weeks as we enter July,” the report added.
Emperor Akbar expected domestic demand to increase to 14,500 tonnes from an average of 13,500 tonnes on the back of low prices and good rainfall all over the country. “This will leave us a surplus of about 4,000 tonnes for export. As such, the exportable surplus should be higher and the prices should remain stable at lower levels,” the company added.
Emperor Akbar noted that prices this year were starting from very low levels. “They will remain range bound. This is again a good sign for domestic and international buyers. The low prices combined with the strengthening US dollar will encourage importers this year and we expect to see good export demand this year. This will be a good year for the cardamom crop,” it concluded.
