Cardamom e-auction to benefit
Cardamom traders and the Spices Board are keeping their fingers crossed as e-auction in cardamom is slated to begin on August 23 at Bodinaikkanur in Tamil Nadu.
By PK Krishnakumar, TNN |
KOCHI: Cardamom traders and the Spices Board are keeping their fingers crossed as e-auction in cardamom is slated to begin on August 23 at Bodinaikkanur in Tamil Nadu. With the e-auction in tea failing to take off, the traders are apprehensive whether the new practice will click.
The event, to be inaugurated by Union minister of state for commerce Jairam Ramesh, will see a transformation from age-old open auction practice. The mock trading is expected to commence in next week after the completion of hardware and software installation. “Its implementation in auction centres in Kerala will depend on the success of the system in Bodinaikkanur,” Spices Board chairman V J Kurian said.
The board has conducted several demonstrations and trial auctions with the software developed by TCS. The e-auction was scheduled to go on stream by the middle of July, but was postponed by over a month as all the procedures could not be completed.
The cardamom growers have been demanding the implementation of e-auction to prevent the collusion between traders and auctioneers. The small traders will be benefited from e-auction.
“Since the buyer is unknown till the end of the auction, the small trader stands to get a good deal,” said Bodinaikkanur Cardamom Planters Association manager Jayachandran. It will help counter the interests of cartels of big traders.
The cardamom prices are hovering around Rs 400 per kg now mainly because of low arrivals. At CPMC auction at Kumily on Tuesday, the average price touched Rs 415 per kg. The harvest of the new crop has just begun and the arrivals are expected to improve towards the end of the month
Last year with production falling to 11,000 tonnes, the average price was Rs 350 per kg. This year further drop in crop is predicted and as a result the price is expected to move in the higher range.
The Kerala Cardamom Processing and Marketing Co-operative Society will start its auction for the current season from August 19.
The event, to be inaugurated by Union minister of state for commerce Jairam Ramesh, will see a transformation from age-old open auction practice. The mock trading is expected to commence in next week after the completion of hardware and software installation. “Its implementation in auction centres in Kerala will depend on the success of the system in Bodinaikkanur,” Spices Board chairman V J Kurian said.
The board has conducted several demonstrations and trial auctions with the software developed by TCS. The e-auction was scheduled to go on stream by the middle of July, but was postponed by over a month as all the procedures could not be completed.
The cardamom growers have been demanding the implementation of e-auction to prevent the collusion between traders and auctioneers. The small traders will be benefited from e-auction.
“Since the buyer is unknown till the end of the auction, the small trader stands to get a good deal,” said Bodinaikkanur Cardamom Planters Association manager Jayachandran. It will help counter the interests of cartels of big traders.
The cardamom prices are hovering around Rs 400 per kg now mainly because of low arrivals. At CPMC auction at Kumily on Tuesday, the average price touched Rs 415 per kg. The harvest of the new crop has just begun and the arrivals are expected to improve towards the end of the month
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Last year with production falling to 11,000 tonnes, the average price was Rs 350 per kg. This year further drop in crop is predicted and as a result the price is expected to move in the higher range.
The Kerala Cardamom Processing and Marketing Co-operative Society will start its auction for the current season from August 19.
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