“The buying interest in the domestic market is subdued as the season of the new crop’s arrival, which usually runs from February till early June, is over,” said U Karthik, vice chairman, Federation of Indian Spice Stakeholders (FISS).
Most of the bulk users of spices have covered their requirement of spices for the next couple of months. The farmers are also busy in sowing and not much interested in getting their stored crop to the markets
“The prices may remain subdued for another one and a half months till the next round of demand comes for the festival season,” said Karthik.
Jeera prices have seen a low of Rs 202/kg and a high of Rs 350/kg in ongoing 2024-25 fiscal. In the previous year, jeera prices had seen a historic high of Rs 650/kg as deficient monsoon had led to a big fall in production.
The prices of jeera, coriander and turmeric had rallied in April and May despite good production. Trade insiders told ET that the spot prices had taken cues from the futures prices, which had moved upwards.“We had a very good crop and good stock of coriander. Turmeric prices have been ruling higher since last year as the production had declined due to erratic monsoon. However, the stored stocks as old as 3 to 4 years came to the markets as prices had tripled from their average range of Rs 50-60/kg during the past 4 to 5 years,” said Karthik.During the past two months, turmeric prices have declined by 11% to Rs 160/kg. “At such high prices, the demand for turmeric has reduced in the domestic as well as the international markets,” said Karthik.
Decline in exports have also helped in easing the domestic prices. “High freight cost is one of the reasons, which has adversely affected spices exports during the last one month,” said Shailesh Shah, director, Jabs International.
