The Spices Board has expressed its keenness on resuming cardamom auctions which got suspended during the last two weeks on account of the Mullaiperiyar issue. The suspension of auctions has brought miseries to the farmers in Idukki district since stocks started piling up.

Small and marginal farmers were put to dire straits since their crop could not be sold and their liquidity got affected. It is estimated that around 10 lakh kg of cardamom are kept in stock at the farmer level waiting to be auctioned, a press release issued here said.

The Spices Board has now decided to convene a joint meeting of the cardamom growers, auctioneers, traders at the Spices Park in Puttady at 3 pm on December 23 to work out the modalities to resume the auctions from December 26 onwards.

The Spices Board appealed to all the farmers associations, auctioneers and traders to participate in the meeting and help in resuming the auctions.  This stalemate has come at a time when the country's exports of cardamom have started picking up. During April-October this year, exports of cardamom peaked to an all-round record level of 2,300 tonnes as against 470 tonnes during the corresponding period of the previous year.

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