Harvest delay, high prices take spice out of cardamom

KOCHI: It may be a double whammy for cardamom trade as a delay in harvesting and rising prices from an anticipated sharp decline in output could hit initial purchases for festival season.

Harvesting of small cardamom in Kerala, the principal growing region of the spice in the country, normally begins in July and by August, traders are able to meet demand for the festival season that starts in September, the busiest time in the domestic market.

"An unusually long summer without rains has delayed the harvest, which is now likely only by the end of August or in September. The market is currently running on carryover stock from the previous year," said PC Punnoose, general manager of the Kerala Cardamom Processing & Marketing Cooperative Society.

Although a bumper crop last year ensured that daily cardamom auctions in Kerala and Tamil Nadu could be conducted, buyers in north India seek fresh arrivals for the festival season. The price is currently hovering at about Rs 800 per kg and is expected to touch Rs 1,000 per kg.


Unofficial figures put cardamom production in India last year at between 30,000 and 35,000 tonnes, which is a record. As a result, prices had dipped to about Rs 550 per kg, when the cost of production was almost Rs 800 per kg.

"Apart from the damage inflicted by the summer, the absence of sufficient rains in cardamom belts of Idukki and Wayanad now is also worrying," said KS Mathew, former president of the Cardamom Growers’ Association.