There is an atmosphere of celebration in the country. The hangover of Washington is still in the hearts and minds of the people. Retail inflation has reached a 25-month low. Wholesale inflation has reached around minus 3.50 percent. Still the kitchen of the common people is fortified. No one is paying attention to this, the prices of milk and pulses kept in the kitchen have not come down yet. Leave aside milk and pulses, the cumin kept in the spice box of the kitchen has become a 'diamond' these days. After all, why does cumin have to be compared to a diamond? The reason for this is the price of cumin which has crossed Rs 60 thousand per quintal today.
Cumin seeds are used in 99 percent of vegetables in every kitchen in the country. If its prices start skyrocketing in such a situation, then what will happen to the common people. There is a continuous rise in the prices of cumin seeds in Gujarat's Unjha mandi. Today the price had crossed 60 thousand rupees only. By the way, a few days ago the price of cumin has crossed 67 thousand as well. The surprising thing is that in 9 years the price of cumin has seen a jump of more than 500 percent. Among the 20 commodities related to agriculture, the maximum jump has been seen in the price of cumin. Let us also give you information about the details about it.
Cumin became costlier by more than 500 percent in 9 years
On June 2, 2014, the price of cumin was at Rs 11,120. Which reached life time high on June 22 with Rs 67,500 per quintal. This means that the prices of cumin have increased by more than 500 percent. By the way, on June 26, the price of cumin came down to Rs 60,125 in Unjha mandi. In this context too, a 441 percent increase in the prices of cumin has been seen in about 9 years. On the other hand, according to data from the futures market NCDEX, the August futures of cumin closed at Rs 58,205 per quintal, which had reached Rs 58,750 during the trading session. In this, there has been an increase of more than 5 percent compared to the previous day.
According to market officials, the main reason for the increase in the price of cumin is the imbalance between demand and supply. Speaking to The Indian Express, Sitaram Patel, a prominent commission agent at Unjha APMC, the world's largest wholesale market for spices, said arrivals this year have been almost 50 per cent less than the demand. Because of which the traders are being forced to increase the prices.
#jeera #commodity
Jeera price went up 178% in one year.
What happened here pic.twitter.com/PJuMYUHskr
Why is the price of cumin increasing?
According to government estimates, India's cumin production has come down from 9.12 lakh tonnes in 2019-20 to 7.95 lakh tonnes in 2020-21 and 7.25 lakh tonnes in 2021-22. Traders believe that the size of the crop of 2022-23 will be slightly less, mainly due to unseasonal rains during the second half of March this time.
However, only low production is not the main reason for the increase in prices. According to the Federation of Indian Spice Stakeholders, there were about 35 lakh bags (55 kg each) in the carry-forward stock in February 2022, before the start of the last harvest. This time the carry-forward of 2021-22 crop has been only 3-4 lakh bags. The prices have increased due to low inventory with traders and fall in production.
Other major reasons for increase in cumin prices
India's cumin production is for domestic market as well as for export. During 2022-23 (April-March), cumin exports are pegged at 1.87 lakh tonnes (Rs 4,193.60 crore), as against 2.17 lakh tonnes (Rs 3,343.67 crore) in the previous fiscal. Talking about the top export countries, China, Bangladesh, America, United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey are included.
Alpesh Patel of MR Agro Industries, an Unjha-based cumin exporting firm, told The Indian Express that China is aggressively importing Indian cumin. In the last three months alone, China has imported 25,000-30,000 tonnes of cumin from India as the crop there is unable to meet the demand. Demand has increased this year as hotels and restaurants reopen after long-standing Covid-19 restrictions. There is also demand from Bangladesh and Pakistan due to Bakrid festival at the end of this month.
India has 70 percent of the world's cumin?
India is producing 70 percent of the world's cumin. After that other countries like Syria, Turkey, United Arab Emirates and Iran produce 30 percent cumin. Some of those countries are facing reduction in production due to civil war and natural calamities. In India, cumin is grown in an area of about 8 lakh hectares. Of the total 7.25 lakh tonnes production in 2021-22, two states – Gujarat (4.20 lakh tonnes) and Rajasthan (3.03 lakh tonnes) had a combined 99.7 per cent share.
Inflation is also being seen in these
In the 'Food and Beverages' category, which has 54.18 per cent weight in the CPI (Combined), 'Cereals and other products' remained in double digits from September 2022. In September 2022, it saw an inflation rate of 11.53 percent, which reached 15.27 percent in March 2023. The weight of 'cereals and products' in CPI is 12.35 percent, the inflation rate in April was 13.67 percent and in May it was 12.65 percent.
The 'Milk and Products' category has also seen an inflation rate of over 7 per cent since September 2022, which reached 9.65 per cent in February this year. The inflation rate for this category (with a weighting of 7.72 per cent in the CPI) eased to 8.85 per cent in April, but rose to 8.91 per cent in May.
Inflation in 'spices' and 'instant food, snacks, sweets' also remained stable. In the last one year, the inflation rate in spices (3.11 per cent VAT) has been in double digits, except in May 2022, which reached 21.09 per cent in January this year. By the way, in May it was seen at 17.9 percent. Inflation rate of more than 6 percent is being seen in instant food, snacks, sweets also in the last one year.
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