Due to a drop in domestic demand, the price of turmeric is currently nearly $1,000 per quintal lower than it was last year, but export demand is keeping prices from falling even lower. The current modal price for the finer kind of turmeric in Erode, Tamil Nadu, is $6,183 per quintal, down from $7,790 during the same period last year. In the case of the bulb variety, the modal price is 5,413 as opposed to 6,594 one year ago. The modal price at the Nanded Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) yard in Maharashtra has decreased from $7,200 to $6,000. Unpolished turmeric was listed at a spot price of $6,452.35 per quintal on NCDEX. The median rate in the Nizamabad APMC yard is 5,751 against 6,520.
“Demand in the domestic market is weak, thus prices are trading in a range of $100 to $200 in each direction. Yet, there is a healthy demand for exports, which has actually stopped the price of the spice from falling anymore, according to Poonam Chand Gupta, a merchant from Nizamabad, Telangana. Turmeric exports increased 10% during the April through November fiscal quarter, reaching 1.12 lakh tonnes valued at $140.94 million, according to figures from the Spices Board of India. About a lakh tonnes worth of shipments totaled $134.81 million over the same period last fiscal. Due to recent rains in several areas of Maharashtra, shipments of turmeric are somewhat muted.
The market is currently estimating rain damage, so this year’s production is also uncertain. When compared to the crop year 2020–21, the expected amount of turmeric produced in 2021–22 (June to July) was 13.30 lakh tonnes (lt). According to a study conducted by Olam Spices and presented at the International Spices Congress in January, this year’s output of turmeric is expected to be 13.14 lt. The ending stock of 1.7 may be a deterrent even though the production has been expected to be lower. In particular, from the Nanded and Vidarbha regions, Patil stated, “We are expecting arrivals to ramp up.
“While the crop in Maharashtra is reportedly suffering from water logging, he suggested that output in Tamil Nadu and the removal of 5 lakh bags (each weighing 50 kg) of turmeric from extraction facilities in Karnataka could make up the shortfall. Arrivals in Maharashtra could put pressure on turmeric prices in the short term, according to Patil, who also added that he wouldn’t be surprised if prices dropped to levels of 5,500 because supplies are anticipated to last until June. The price of turmeric could, however, tend to go northward if El Nino, a climatic phenomenon that affects the Indian monsoon, occurs, according to Patil.
