Traders in Kumali and some other centres down south are holding on to their stocks even as their counterparts in Kanpur and Delhi are trying to force down the price.

The average price of cardamom touched Rs 699.99 last Saturday at the Cardamom Marketing Corporation's (CMC) auctions at Vandanmedu. At Monday's auctions conducted by the Cardamom Planters' Association (CPA) at Bodinaikanur, the prices ruled slightly lower at Rs 686 on an average.

However, this is attributed to the inferior quality of the Santhanpara cardamom on offer at the auctions. Most of the stock on offer at the CPA auctions is collected from areas around Santhanpara.

Sources in the Spices Board said that arrivals have been less this November than last year. This has been attributed to the tendencyof some of the growers and dealers in Kumali and other centres to hold on to their stocks. This is happening amidst reports that most traders at upcountry centres, expecting the prices to crash, are refusing to buy new stocks. There are also reports that old stocks of Guatemalan cardamom is being released at centres like Siliguri and Calcutta.

However, sources in CMC told The Financial Express on Tuesday, "we are not sure whether there will illegal entry of Guatemalan in the domestic market this season. Even if there is it will be a very small quantity." He put the quantity at around 50,000 kgs of old stocks that could not be pushed into the market owing to the stringent measures initiated towards the beginning of last year. Spices Board has confirmed reports that non-Indian cardamom will not pose a big threat to Indian cardamom this year.

"Good Indian crop and less of smuggling augurs well for cardamom growers in India this year," said K P G Menon who will take charge as director of theInternational Pepper Community (ICP) in Jakarta this week.

Meanwhile, the eight licensed cardamom auctioneers in Kerala and Tamil Nadu are are seeing their fortunes boom with more and more cardamom cultivators resorting to sales through auctions rather than directly going to the traders.

CMC sources attributed this to the difficulties in getting timely payments from traders. Licensed auctioneers on the other hand are obliged to pay up within 21 days of making the deal. The Spices Board, the licensing issuing authority, is empowered to cancel the licence if the commitments by auctioneers are not met. Every alternate Saturdays auctions are held at Vandanmedu by the Joseph and Justin Coffee Company.