Turmeric prices may recover by year-end, could go above Rs 6,100

The NCDEX October contract has immediate strong support at Rs 5,700 per quintal.

Ajitesh Mullick

September 20, 2020 / 13:29 IST

Futures have shown appreciated by more than 10 percent over last month. As the unlocking of nation's economy started, household consumption picked up and similar trend was noticed in medicinal industry as well as exports. So it can be inferred that local as well as overseas demand for turmeric has started improving.

Due to efforts of Agriculture Ministry and increasing awareness about spices being a strong immunity builder, especially turmeric, number of Indians preferring increased consumption of turmeric has improved in last few months.

Out of the estimated total production of 9,38,955 tonnes in 2019-20, annual exports till December 2019 stood at 1,01,500 tonnes as per trade sources. India is the world's largest supplier of turmeric contributing nearly 70-75 percent of global production. As the perception of turmeric being an immunity-boosting product increases, domestic and export demand has started improving.

Exporters have reported that overseas purchases have been increasing for Indian turmeric since April in retail chains in the UK, Germany and Holland. Interesting to note, the entire spices basket has fetched good returns for the country in June. Sowing prospects have reduced as markets had moved in a moderate price band of Rs 500-7,000 per quintal since last 3 years.

There are reports of farmers likely to shift some of the turmeric cultivated areas towards planting of soybean/maize/cotton etc. Therefore sowing prospects are lower for the coming season, indicating drop in production outlook.