The growers of cardamom have renewed hopes for a healthy crop in the upcoming season, which is anticipated to begin around the third week of July. In several manufacturing zones, summer showers have so far been about average. A lot will depend on the premonsoon showers in April and May. Farmers were unable to benefit from the recent increase in crop price, according to C Sadasivasubramaniam, Secretary of the Kerala Cardamom Growers Union, because they had been selling carryover supplies to satisfy their rising financial needs.
Rain will be essential to the upcoming season. He claimed that while the sector had enjoyed a decent summer’s worth of rain the previous year, the lack of monsoon rains in June had severely hurt the crop, resulting in a lesser production. Cardamom grower SB Prabhakar in Idukki claims that prices have corrected to an average of $1,350 from $1,650 in February. But, until the major harvest enters the market in August, rates are predicted to remain in the region of $1,350 to $1,500.
Nevertheless, Guatemala’s abundant cardamom production, which totaled over 55,000 tonnes this season, has hurt India’s export hopes. He added that there are instances of Guatemalan cardamom being sold in North Indian markets, which reduced domestic demand. As prices have fallen sharply and picking costs are much higher, it is projected that only 5,000 tonnes will be gathered in Guatemala this season.
Plantations this year, overall, are basically typical, according to PC Punnoose, CEO of CPMC, a prominent auctioneer, despite declining prices. According to him, cardamom cultivation would only be profitable when farmers fetched a price tag over the level of over $1,500 due to the surge in production costs. However, summer showers have given them hope for a strong crop in the upcoming season.
