Spot Turmeric Rises in Warangal, Steady in Nizamabad; Futures End in Red for Fourth Straight Session

Mumbai (Commodities control) - Spot turmeric prices were mixed as compared with the previous session, across the major markets in India on Thursday, while futures ended lower for the fourth consecutive session this week.

On NCDEX, turmeric settled lower by Rs 54 and Rs 38 for December and April futures at Rs 5,500 and Rs 5,870 per Quintal respectively. The most active December contract has shed over Rs 200 since Monday.

Spot turmeric of all varieties were quoted stable in Nizamabad, amid arrivals of 4,000 bags, similar to that in the last session.Meanwhile, the Gathha and finger varieties of yellow spice dropped Rs 100 each, at Basmatnagar mandi amid arrivals of 3,500 bags.

Prices were quoted stable in Sangli for both Kadapa and Rajapuri varieties on Thursday. Meanwhile at Warangal, however, Gathha and Finger varieties rose Rs 200 and Rs 100 respectively, to be quoted at Rs 4,300-4,400 and Rs 4500-4600 per Quintal today, amid arrivals of 50 bags of turmeric.

Turmeric prices were quoted stable at Kesamudram and Erode mandi amid arrivals of 2,500 bags.

Harvest of new crops is expected to commence this week in Maharashtra, Telangana and Andhra pradesh. Ample carryover stocks in the market is an area of concern for the prices.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka has banned imports of Indian turmeric, the trade here, however, seems to be unfazed. The Sri Lankan government banned turmeric imports in December 2019 to encourage local production of the spice crop and to protect small and medium-size businesses.

A section of traders said there won’t be much impact as Indian production is seen lower this year and the cost-conscious Lankan market prefers only cheaper varieties.

India produced 9.39 lakh tonnes in 2019-20, down from the 9.5 lakh tonnes it produced the previous year, according to Spices Board data. Also, both domestic and export demand is on the rise thanks to the immunity booster tag attached to the spice and Indian exporters have got robust orders from West Asia, the US, the EU and even Bangladesh.