Cardamom loses flavour as demand slips

Cardamom market slipped marginally last week on slack demand and comparatively good arrivals at auctions last week. Arrivals continued to be good even though the sixth round of harvesting is on. Upcountry buyers bought but not aggressively, market sources told Business Line.

At the same time, orders from overseas were met with non-availability of exportable variety of 7mm and above capsules. An estimated 30-40 tonnes of cardamom were bought by exporters. “We were looking for good volume but we could not get even 10 tonnes of exportable grade capsules,” an exporter told Business Line.

Upcountry dealers are reported to have stocks with them. Severe cold wave conditions prevailing in most States have slowed down sales significantly, market sources said. Therefore, improvement in demand is likely to emanate after the weather clears, they said. The harvesting is at the fag end of the season.