Cumin imports from China
In China, new crops of cumin have emerged. The price of cumin in China is lower than the Indian cumin. There the price ranges from USD 5500 – 5600 per tonne. As the production of Indian cumin is not sufficient to meet domestic demand India has to import cumin. This year 100 containers have already been booked and it is expected that a further 100 containers might be needed. It takes almost 25 – 30 days for a container to reach India from China.
Imports from other countries
India also imports cumin seeds from Syria and Afghanistan. The general price of cumin was USD 4800 – 5000 per Metric Tonne. But, most of the deals were getting defaulted when the price increased and reached around USD 6600 – 7000 per Metric Tonne. From Afghanistan delivery will also start after 25 to 30 days.
The imports of cumin from China, Syria and Afghanistan will not have any adverse effect on the Indian cumin market as the shortage of cumin here is increasing day by day.
Prices of cumin in the Indian market
Demand for cumin in the domestic market is increasing on a continuous basis. Price is also increasing and the stock of cumin lying in the Demat account at NCDX (National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange Limited) is going for domestic demand. Traders are having about half a million bags of cumin stock in demat and cumin lying in demat is having less prices than the spot market. The price of Indian cumin seeds in the global market is USD 7100 – 7200 per Metric Tonne. The price of machine-cleaned cumin is USD 7,13 – 7,19 per kg while the prices at NCDX are 6,82 – 6,88 per kg. When traders are removing their stock from the demat, it shows how much shortages there are.
These shortages and carry forward stock of cumin show us that the price of cumin till the Diwali festival might reach USD 9,14 per kg. The rally started at the beginning of the season.
Conclusion
There is good domestic demand support at present in cumin and very less stock is left which shows there will be a continuous boom in cumin. It also seems that Cumin is getting revenge from its pricing point of view in which it is successful. But there are chances that there might be a big fall, due to the high really in the prices. But still, it has a much longer way to fall.