The sesame seed market in India is staying between weak and steady, but the expectation was it would pick up towards the end of January. However, the scenario didn’t change as the tender expected from Korea was delayed by ten days.
Current Scenario
The market is slow at the moment, and often the last two weeks of December and the first two weeks of January have stagnation in the market. But this year, it failed to pick up even during the third week of January due to reasons like the new wave of Covid-19 has also deterred the international demand for the crop. Although stockists have vast quantities of stocks and are eager to sell, the current low price of the seeds in the market is holding them back.
The slowness in the market is the lack of international demand and the decrease in domestic demand.
Earlier, it was expected that the January end would appreciate Sesame’s price with the announcement of Korean tender for an expected 10 to 12 thousand metric tons. As a result, the market was expected to pick up towards the end of the month.
Despite the delay in the tender, there is the hope that India will be bagging the most requests from Korea. This is predicted based on the African, Pakistani, and Chinese sesame seeds being higher than India, and the latter will get the major share of the tender. The prediction is also based on the last year’s tender results, where India received the lion’s share of fulfilment for the sesame seeds.
In May 2021, a Korean tender was announced for 12,000 MT, out of which India fulfilled 11,400 MT.
In August 2021, the tender was announced in 3 parts with a total of 6,400 MT, and India got the chance to fulfil the maximum quantity with 5,400 MT.
For October, India fulfilled 1800 MT out of the total declared 3000 MT.
Lastly, in December, the total quantity announced for the tender was 6600 MT, of which India received the opportunity to export 4,800 MT.
Prediction
Traders, stockists, and even investors are now eagerly waiting for the announcement of the tender. According to the experts, the crop prices will become appreciated like the previous year if India gets the major share to fulfil the Korean tender.
Given the increased price among the other international players, India will likely lead the tender demand. As a result, the stockists are not releasing their stocks. With the increased demand for the commodity in the international market, the chances are the prices can become bullish in the coming days.
The other reason the prices can go up for Sesame in the coming days is the shortage of crops in Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh. Already, these states have lower stocks compared to last year. As a result, their production has gone down.
Sesame seeds natural 99.95% sortex
| Date | Price |
| January 27 | $1,655 per kg FOB |
| January 20 | $1,660 per kg FOB |
| January 17 | $1,655 per kg FOB |
| January 12 | $ 1,645 per kg FOB |
| January 4 | $1,635 per kg FOB |
| January 3 | $1,655 per kg FOB |
The trend was similar in January for Black Sesame seeds, too, where the Regular Black 99.90% started the month at $2,231 per kg FOB and ended the day on January 27 at the same price. It went up to $2,136 per kg FOB from the lowest of the month, i.e., $2,211 per kg FOB.