CARDAMOM is facing one of its worst periods of the last decade, with prices plummeting to rock bottom levels due to rising yields and higher production in the world’s top producing nations. According to Indian trade sources, there has been a rise in yield per hectare and excess production in India’s main competitor, Guatemala. There […]
FARMERS in the Idukki district of India are pressing ahead with plans to set up a new cardamom and pepper processing and extraction unit in Ramakkalmedu at a cost of around Rs50m ($1.12m). According to leading officials of the Indian Organic Spices Farmers Producer Company, more than 50 spice growers in the district have joined […]
GROWING demand and speculative buying of cardamom in the Middle East saw Guatemala raise its exports of the spice in 2005. Guatemala, by far the world’s leading exporter of cardamom, exported 31,643 tonnes of the spice in 2005, 11% more than the 28,569 tonnes sold abroad in 2004. This also represents good growth from 2003’s […]
GUATEMALAN cardamom prices are expected to remain on the weak side for at least the next two to three months due to an anticipated decent sized crop and sluggish demand. Rodolfo Rivera, director of Guatemalan exporter Excard, told The Public Ledger the 2005/06 crop is likely to come in at around 32,500 tonnes, together with […]
INDIA’S Spices Board has offered to test cardamom for pesticide residue free of charge for the next three years. The testing facility will be available at the Quality Evaluation Laboratory of the Spices Board in Kochi. In addition to the residue test, the lab will also undertake soil and leaf testing free of cost during […]
LOW Indian cardamom prices are preventing growers from being able to nurture their plantations and threaten to result in reduced plantings next season, according to the Kerala Cardamom Growers’ Association (KCGA). KCGA president T Ashok Kumar said that the average price this season is around Rs200 ($4.50) a kg compared with the average auction price […]
THE New York Board of Trade (Nybot) and the Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to explore areas of co-operation that could benefit both exchanges. While Nybot is recognised as the premier soft commodity exchange in the US, and indeed the world, the MCX is held in the same […]
MARKET players are looking for loopholes in the new Forward Markets Commission (FMC) standards for sugar futures in order to maintain volatility in the market. Under the new standards, position limits for members have been revised to 100,000 tonnes or 20% of open market interest – whichever is higher – compared with 50,000 tonnes earlier. […]
VOLUMES of cardamom traded through Indian auctions have hit a record level in the current season due to a bumper harvest. With the peak harvesting period of India’s cardamom coming to an end, picking of the crop is slowing down. According to local estimates, India’s output should reach a healthy 13,500 tonnes in 2005/06 from […]
THE current global price level of coffee appears to have infused a sense of satisfaction among the growers in Kodagu district of Karnataka, which accounts for 40% of India’s coffee production. With the picking of arabica, which ripens ahead of robusta, just starting across the entire district, prices of both varieties have started to look […]