Boosted by festive buying and better rabi crop prospects on favourable climate, spices complex were up in early-Wednesday trade on the National Commodity Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX).
Turmeric for delivery in December jumped by 2.3% to trade at Rs 5,134 a quintal. Similarly chilli for November and December delivery shot up by 1.4% and 1.9% to Rs 5042 a quintal and Rs 5000 a quintal respectively. Following that suit, jeera contract for expiring in April jumped by 1.6% to Rs 15052.5 a quintal.
Also, coriander for delivery in November surged by 0.27% to trade at Rs 4,414 a quintal.
Faiyaz Hudani, Senior Research Analyst with Kotak Commodity Services Ltd, said, “The overall sentiment is positive towards spices due to prospects of better rabi crop and festive buying.”
Chilli sowing is 40.14% lower compared to last year and 28.65% lower compared to normal season. Sowing of turmeric has started in Andhra Pradesh one of the key producers is 28.65% lower compared to last year and 13.50% lower compared to the normal season.
During the first quarter of the current financial year, jeera exports were noted at 18,300 tonnes, a rise of 218% compared to last year as per trade sources.
Spices export data got for April 2012 as follows; Pepper exports were 1,200 tonnes against 2,266 tonnes in previous year a fall of 47%. Turmeric saw the highest gain in exports with 7300 tonnes exported during April 2012 against 7230 tonnes last year, a gain of 1%.
Exports of dhaniya jumped to 2,600 tonnes against 1,561 tonnes in previous year, a rise of 67%. Exports in 2011 - 2012 have been higher compared to previous year.
However, only chilli and coriander has been a outperformer due to lower prices. Rest of the spices was very close to its average exports of last five years.
Meanwhile, the tropical disturbance off the coast of Tamil Nadu will make landfall initially spreading the greatest rain along the coast before moving through Karnataka and into Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. Rainfalls, therefore, from Tamil Nadu into eastern Andhra Pradesh will vary from 3 - 6 inches with amounts less than 3 inches typical in nearby locations.
The precipitation will disrupt summer crop harvesting, but it should not prevail long enough for a serious quality problem. The only exception to that may be in a few Tamil Nadu, southern Andhra Pradesh and southern Karnataka locations were some of the greatest rainfall is predicted. A more seasonal pattern of weather will resume next week with daily rain confined to the south and any lingering shower activity from northern Andhra Pradesh into northern Karnataka and southern Maharashtra occurring November 5 – 6, said a report by Kotak Commodity Services.
European spice dealers are bracing themselves for the likelihood of a tightened supply of coriander seed into the first or second quarter of 2013 due to smaller output this year in eastern Europe and expected lower plantings for India's next crop due to be harvested in February.
The consensus trade view is that this year's crops in eastern Europe were adversely impacted by severe winter conditions and subsequent drought in the summer. Moreover, the planted area for this year's eastern European crops was said to be up to 30% down from normal. Turkish spice exporter was already forecasting substantial declines in output in Russia, Bulgaria, Ukraine and Romania.
Taking into account output from other origins as well, estimated that global export availability on coriander seed this year would amount to around 100,000 tonnes against a normal demand requirement from importing countries of 120,000 tonnes. Although there were no official updates on the East European crops, dealers confirmed that they had been told production was down this year. The crops are about 20% less than last year. The prices were slowly edging up by $15 to $20 a month from each of the east European origins.