After the last week’s downward trend, the market for Cumin recovered this week with two consecutive days of price hikes. On Wednesday, December 22, the mode became stable for the spice. This has come as a relief to the Cumin farmers and traders since the extreme fluctuation in the price last month became quite a concern.
Market Sentiment
While the fluctuation in the price has continued this month, the trend has been appreciative to steady from mid-December except for one drop last week. Good demand for spice has helped the market to stay stable.
One of the major factors that have been helpful in Cumin price becoming appreciative in the market is the news of China willing to import Cumin (HSN Code:09093121) which should meet the following two requirements: i.e., Extraneous matter:3.0% max and Other seeds:0.25% max. The majority of the Cumin seeds produced in India meets this requirement. As a result, there has been good demand for seeds from China. Traders have started purchasing spice for export.
The other factor that led to the price becoming firm for Cumin is that the lower price made the buyers active in the spot markets, mainly in Rajasthan and Gujarat.
Arrivals
As of December 8 report, the arrivals in the market was as follows:
Unjha reported having 280,000 bags of arrival in November, the benchmark spot market for the spice. Compared to October, the arrival was up by 10.24 percent and 68,000 more than November last year.
Price
Cumin A Grade 99% Pure
| Date | Price |
| December 22 | $2,20 per kg FOB |
| December 20 | $2,18 per kg FOB |
| December 15 | $2,175 per kg FOB |
December 14 was the last day. So far, the price for the spice went down.
The NCDEX on December 22 closed the future of Cumin for January at $2.13 per kg and $2.53 for March. Both the prices were in bearish mode.
Prediction
The overall sowing area for Cumin has gone down since the spice did not fetch a good price last two years. The farmers, as a result, are dedicating the area to spices like Fennel, Coriander, and Ajwain. As per Gujarat’s Agricultural Department report, as of December 6, the sowing area was down to 237,866 hectares from 381,055 hectares compared to last year.
Analysts believe that prices might become better with Cumin sowing being less by fifty percent this year and with good demand for the product from China and the local market.
It has been reported that 56 to 60 percent of the sowing of Cumin is done in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, but it is going slow compared to other years. Heavy rain and overall bad weather have affected the slow progress in the sowing of Cumin.
The picture about the sowing area is likely to be more apparent towards the end of December or early January next year.
As per some market experts, it has been predicted the Cumin production for 2021-22 will be about 391,801 MT compared to last year’s 451,451 MT.
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