Cardamom prices shoot up after dry spell cuts supplies

摘要

A PROTRACTED dry spell during the summer, followed by heavy rains and strong gales during the delayed south-west monsoon, has caused a marked drop in arrivals of cardamom in the auction centres of Kerala and Tamil Nadu, and induced a sharp price rise.The shortage has been exacerbated by the fact that harvesting of the next cardamom crop has been delayed to mid-August. Growers consider the month of Aadi, stretching from mid-July to mid-August, to be inauspicious, and will only start picking the cropon Aadi Perukku, US OFFICIALS are anticipating a much smaller hazelnut crop this year due to the alternate bearing cycle of production, though the volume will not be as low as that of previous off-years, writes Julian Gale.