Market Briefing: Spices and Exotics – 06 June 2021

– 0% increase in Peruvian ginger crop.
– CBD processor acquires grower to lead the South African market.
– 80% growth in Guatemalan cardamom exports.

Production

The Peruvian ginger crop may rise by 30% year-on-year to 80,000 tonnes thanks to acreage expansion, after prices started to soar between November 2020-February 2021, due to a supply shortage.

Around a third of Bulgarian rose plantations may be unharvested due to extremely low prices paid by essential oil processors, according to Bulgaria’s farming associations. As a result, the rose petal crop may fall by 40% year-on-year to 10,000 tonnes in 2021.

Agri Resources is set to open an essential oil plant with a total annual capacity of 5,000 litres in Madagascar. The factory will produce organic certified patchouli, ginger, turmeric, cinnamon, citrus leaves and pepper oil.

Demand

Covid-19 restrictions are weakening Indian spice consumption, halting domestic trade and stabilising prices after a strong price recovery in Q2, as commercialised turmeric and chilli data reveals.

African demand for CBD products is booming, granting the acquisition of the grower Canopy Growth Africa, located in Lesotho, by the South African processor and retailer Goodleaf.

Trade

Vietnamese and Brazilian pepper exports are under way. Vietnamese exports fell by 20% in volume year-on-year to 93,550 tonnes although revenue rose by 15% to USD284.0 million, in January-April 2021.

Brazilian international sales fell by 2% y-o-y in volume to 32,450 tonnes and by 32% in value to USD84.4 mln. 

Guatemala’s cardamom exports reached 18,000 tonnes, worth USD382.2 million, in Q1 2021, 80% more year-on-year in volume and 26% more in value in Q1 2021.

Peruvian ginger exports rose by 27% year-on-year in volume to 11,260 tonnes and by 47% in value to USD38.3 mln in January-April 2021, after reaching record international sales of 51,120 tonnes, worth USD107.1 mln, in 2020.

Prices

Weekly Indian wholesale chilli prices fell between 6-9% month-on-month to INR113-150 per kilo (USD1.55-2.05/kg) in the last week of May.

The Indian spot fob turmeric price closed in May at INR7,603 per quintal (USD103/quintal) at the Nizamabad market (Telangana state, South Central) on 31 May, unchanged from 3 May, despite weak demand due to lockdowns. 
The average farmgate price for oil petals paid by Bulgarian oil processors is BGN1.6 per kilo (USD1/kg).

(IHSmarkit)