Indian cumin seen rebounding from declines

Indian cumin seed prices are expected to show further steady gains over the next week or so on improved demand following recent declines due to slack buying interest.

Prices showed further falls in the week to September 27, according to a September 30 report from Virdhara International, manufacturer and exporter of spices and oil seeds.

Yashodhan Shah of Virdhara International recalled that Indian cumin seeds prices started to decline at the beginning of September from the level of USD1,865 per tonne fob Mundra for European quality and USD1,790/tonne fob for cumin seeds of Singapore quality due to a lack of domestic as well as international demand. Supply was approximately 300-400 tonnes per day.

After falling to USD1,795/tonne fob Mundra for cumin seeds European quality and USD1,700/tonne for that of Singapore quality, prices remained firm for the last week of September.

After a week of holding steady, prices started to gradually rise again at the start of this week. The market opened on Monday (September 29) at USD1,810/tonne fob Mundra for the European quality and USD 1,720/tonne fob for the Singapore quality, Shah explained.

Due to constantly decreasing prices, buyers from the domestic and international market started purchasing at lower price levels, which gave a boost to demand and supply also increased to 1,000 tonnes per day at the beginning of this week, he noted.

“Looking at the present price trends and good demand it is expected that cumin seeds prices will again start increasing gradually,” Shah remarked.

Buyers were advised to procure material at current price levels before prices advance substantially.