Bearish trend at Kerala cardamom auction

Inferior quality of arrivals has brought down cardamom prices on Wednesday's weekly auctions in Kumily, Kerala, compared with a week ago, dealers said.

Cardamom Processing and Marketing Company organises these weekly auctions.Next week, cardamom may come under pressure due to slowdown in demand with buyers mostly adopting a wait-and-watch attitude, the dealers said.

Cardamom coming to auctions, at present, mostly comprises old stocks that may not be at par with fresh stocks in terms of quality, a dealer said.

Colour and aroma are two key factors that determine cardamom quality. The spice tends to lose these, as it gets old, he added.

Buyers mostly staying away from the market also weakened sentiments despite total supply slipping to 44 tonne compared with 52 a week ago, dealers said.

It is normal for buyers to stay away to keep prices under check, a dealer said. Demand from exporters slipping to 5 tonne compared with 9 tonne a week ago is another factor for weak sentiments, he added.

Top quality 8mm bold grades fetched a high price of Rs 471 per 1 kg compared with Rs 491 a week ago.

Next best 7.5mm grades slipped to Rs 370-410 per 1 kg from Rs 380-430, while 7mm grades got Rs 310-340 compared with Rs 340-380 a week ago.

Current bulk grade was at Rs 310-340 per 1 kg compared with Rs 320-350 last week. The average price slipped to Rs 340 per 1 kg compared with Rs 356 a week ago.