Clove prices are going down

Indian cloves market seems to settle at between 550 and 650 Indian rupees per kilogram. Just very recently prices were 1200-1400 Indian rupees per kg.

New crops have started coming in. Zanzibar, Comoros, Madagascar cloves are being offered at $9,000 a tonne while the crop of  Colombo at $8,500-8,800.

Arrival of new crop is expected to pick up from next week. This year Colombo crop is estimated at 4,000 tonnes and there is going to be not much in it to stock, they claimed.

According to the trade, Indonesian new crop is in April and projected at 60,000 tonnes. “Now the government has reduced import duty to 20 per cent and that is likely to be reduced to 10 per cent soon under the ensuing Indo-ASEAN trade agreement,” they said.

When the prices were ruling above $15,000 a tonne many Indian dealers who were holding stocks imported at lower rates shipped out them at higher prices. Then the depleted inventory was replenished with material bought later at comparatively higher prices.

“Last year from January markets climbed up from $4,000 to $21,000 following failure of the June 2011 crop in Indonesia. But, its Dec 2011 crop turned out to be good and that in turn started pulling down the prices, they added.

Indian production of cloves continued to remain at around 1,500 tonnes against a national demand of over 15,000 tonnes.

India imported 12,175 tonnes of cloves valued at Rs 440.82 crore in the fiscal, 2011-12 against 7,000 tonnes valued at Rs 153.37 crore in 2010-11, according to official sources.