GLOBAL MARKET - CARDAMOM

World export of cardamom

Source  :  Cardamom Statistics,1984-85,Government of India, Cardamom Board, Cochin.  

(After 1984-85 the above statistics not availble, We tried to collect full data base up to 2000*Pl. visit later..)

In the early 1960s,about 50 to 60 percent of the world import demand came from the Middle-East markets, by the early seven ties it had reached the 80 percent mark; and by the early 1980s the Middle East was accounting for over 85 percent of the world import demand. The demand in this market segment has been increasing in recent years because of the enormous increase in the per capita incomes of these countries, consequent upon the oil boom. This is evident from the fact that the four years averages of imports between 1971 and 1982 increased steadily in all the Middle-East markets, whereas it either stagnated or showed only a mild increase in the West-European markets. In Saudi Arabia, the average increased from 1,074 metric tons (MT)to 1,725 and then to 3,483;in Kuwait the increase was from 721 to 1.307 to 1.648;in Dubai the increase was from 107 to 238 to 324;in Sweden there was actually a decline from 310 to242 to 210 and in West Germany a mild increase from 119 to 124 to 230.

As is evident from table,  the world trade in cardamom has grown phenomenally in the 1970s,the volume doubling in a period of ten years. But the Indian share in this growing market has been coming down steadily. India, which accounted for nearly 60 percent of the world exports in the early 1970s now accounts for only 30 percent of the world exports. On the other hand Guatemala, which accounted its share to over 60 percent in the early  1970s, increased its share to over 60 percent in less than fifteen years.

The rapid increase in world exports during the seventies and early eighties was mostly due to substantial increases in production and export from Guatemala .During the early seventies production in Guatemala was 800 MT per annum and her share in world exports less than 30 percent. The production in Guatemala increased to 4300 MT by the early eighties (a five-fold increase compared to the Indian increase of about 40 percent during the same period),and her share in world exports shot up to 60 percent. Such a rapid increase in production was achieved through expansion of area under the crop; enhancement of yields through the adoption of improved cultivation techniques, and reduction of costs of production. Consequently Guatemala has been able to compare successfully with India in the world market on the piece front. The price of cardamom from Guatemala in recent years has been about 13 to 16 (US) Dollars per kilogramme(199-2000) lower than that from India. Besides the quality of  cardamom produced in Guatemala is comparable in characteristics with the Allepey-green variety exported from India. Such advantages helped Guatemalan exporters to penetrate into the prime markets for Indian cardamom. Consequently, India has lost her dominant position in the world market. The trade circles in the importing countries, who have for long considered the Indian exporters as their major sources of supply, are now turning increasingly towards the Guatemalan exporters. Unhealthy practices(such as sending consignments not conforming with samples)followed by some Indian exporters and the inconsistent export policy of the Government of India have also been contributing factors for the deteriorating performance of India.

        Thus, although the world export demand for cardamom has been increasing at a fairly high rate, the rate of growth of export from India in recent years has been lagging behind.

 Area, Production and export of cardamom from Guatemala

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Note    :   Official Statistics on area under cardamom cultivation and production are not available. However, the area figures given above are estimates by the United States Department of Agriculture. Production figures approximate export figures as domestic consumption of cardamom insignificant. Export statistics were obtained for 1970-71 through USDA. In other years, it is from the Common Wealth Secretariat.

 The rapid increase in production and productivity in Guatemala has made its presence felt in the dominant Middle East market where India is finding it increasingly difficult to operate. The impact of changes in the world market on domestic prices and production will be evident from a discussion of he structure of the domestic market and the changes therein.

Trends in the production and productivity of cardamom

            Cardamom is cultivated in rain-fed conditions, under forest cover and is sensitive to micro-climatic conditions and moisture stress. Hence, along with the year-to-year fluctuations in rainfall-both its quantum and distribution-the output and productivity of cardamom also shows considerable year-to-year fluctuations .Some of the years reporting sharp decreases in production and productivity were 1976-77, 1982-83, and 1983-84 years of severe drought. Considering the production in these yeare as outliers, it may be observed that the annual percentage change in production (of three year moving averages) shows some peculiarities. They are generally low, but two groups of years show rather high percentage changes-the first, during the period 1969-71 and the second during the period 1975-78. It may be inferred from such behaviour of the annual percentage changes that these years mark sharp rises into higher levels of production. In other words, though production is characterised by year-to-year fluctuations sharp increases have taken place in the levels of production over the years which are in the form of jumps around 1970 and 1975-76. These years, then, divide the whole period into three sub-periods, anmely 1964-65 to 1969-70, 1970-71 to 1975-76, and 1977-78 to 1985-86. The increase in production from the first sub-period to the sound sub-period was 34 per cent and from the second to the third sub-period 38 per cent; the overall increase being around 85 per cent. Within each of the sub-periods the deviation of the yearly production from the average was not very high.

              The source of increase in production, namely increase in area or, in yield; its location, that is, the states of Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, and the emerging characteristics of the cultivator population are the issues taken up for analysis in the rest of this section.    

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