Indian group visits Guatemala’s cardamom sector

THE Indian Spices Board is sending a two-man delegation to Guatemala to study the country’s cardamom crop.

According to marketing director S Kannan, the Indian Spices Board is in talks with local authorities to send a scientist and an economist to the country soon. This echoes a trip by Indian officials to Madagascar to study the vanilla situation earlier this year.

As well as making field visits and getting first-hand information on the crop situation and agricultural practices, the team will also look at the processing methods and the marketing exercises undertaken there. It would be followed by a visit of a team from Guatemala.

Initial reports of the Guatemalan crop that is expected by November put it in the region of 25,000 tonnes, although there have been reports of a lower crop. While official estimates put the Indian crop lower by around 15% to 20% compared with last year’s crop of nearly 14,500 tonnes, growers claim that production could be as much as 35% lower.

The Indian Spices Board has also received a study of the cardamom market in West Asia from analyst TCS, which it is studying before initiating marketing plans.