Kerala floods make pepper, cardamom, tea costlier by up to 50%

The heavy rain in Kerala and parts of Karnataka have hit the pepper, cardamom, coffee and tea crops, among others. With arrivals low, prices of these commodities have risen by 30-50 per cent and could go up further.

 
Peper, also termed ‘black gold’ was Rs 305 a kg on August 8, when it began raining heavily. It is now Rs 405 a kg. And, import is only allowed for re-export. Similarly, prices of cardamom are now Rs 1,260-1,280 a kg, from the earlier Rs 1,000 a kg. Last year, Kerala was estimated to have produced nearly 25,000 tonnes (all-India outout was a little above 26,000 tonnes). The crop loss this season is thought to be 40-60 per cent, with Idukki and Wayanad districts, major growing areas, hit hard by rain and floods. Three-fourth of the total production is of small cardamom, almost entirely from South India. After Kerala, it is grown the most in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. In Karnataka  excess rain in Kodagu, Hassan and Chikkamagaluru has impacted production, though growers are yet to quantify the loss. Tea prices were up 30 per cent last week at auctions, says N Dharmaraj, chief executive at Harrisons Malayalam, one of the large plantation companies in South India. The same is true of coffee, 70 per cent of national production coming from Karnataka. The Kodagu, Hassan and Chikkamagaluru districts, hit hard by rain, produce the bulk. The staimted crop loss is 15-20 per cent.

 
As for arecanut, prices have risen by Rs 20 a kg in the past fortnight, to Rs 250 a kg, says M Suresh Bhandary, managing director of The Central Arecanut and Cocoa Marketing and Processing Co-operative. Traders are currently stocking to meet  future demand and prices are expected to rise further. He estimates a crop loss of 40 per cent and says this will lead to more import, which growers have been opposing; the current minimum import price fixed by the central government is Rs 215 a kg.