INDIAN cardamom dealers have become increasingly concerned over the lack of rain across key growing regions and likely impact of this on output. In an August 17 market report, Emperor Akbar Green Cardamoms noted that for the week to August 1, the state of Kerala had a 67% deficiency in rainfall while Tamil Nadu had 85% deficiency in rainfall over the previous week. "So far, the two states have a rainfall deficiency of 42% and 30% over the previous year respectively," it added. "This distressing fact has led many planters to take emergency measures. Planters are now estimating a shortfall of about 40% to 50% in the production over the last year. The estimates of the planters of the total production now range between 13,500 and 15,500 tonnes," the company stated... Read More