Kerala - Kalpetta   

Heavy demand: ginger price soars

Kalpetta: After ruling low for the last three years, the prices of ginger have been spiralling due to the scanty arrival of the commodity and great demand for raw ginger.

The spot price for one-year-old ginger touched Rs.3,000 a bag (60 kg) in Wayanad on Thursday against Rs.925 last year. This is the highest price for ginger since 2002-03.

The spot price for new arrival touched Rs.1,600 a bag against Rs.325 last year. Last Monday, the price went up to Rs.24,00 for old ginger and new ginger fetched Rs.1,450.

Though the demand has increased tremendously, availability of ginger become very low. Due to the anticipated drought in the Karnataka belt, especially in Chickmangalore, Hassan and Koorg districts, most of the farmers harvested the commodity months ago.

Now Wayanad is the only source for old ginger, Benny Elavumthuruthel, a leading trader at Meenangadi, said. Though a small quantity of new ginger arrived from Periya Pattinam and Kushal Nagar in Karnataka, due to rot disease the quality is inferior, the traders said.

The ginger harvest in Karnataka will start only at the end of August.

Moreover, the size of the ginger plantations in Karnataka and Kerala has shrunk enormously this year due to the hike of lease of the land and production costs, farming sources point out.

According to trade circles in Wayanad, a major ginger growing region of the State, the momentum is likely to persist considering the low availability of ginger. The demand and supply gap of the commodity is expected to grow till August end when fresh stocks begin to arrive in the market, a leading trader said.

Owing to the changes in the climate, most of the farmers in the district could not apply the third and fourth dose of fertilizer to the ginger and the dearth of fertilizer, especially the complex fertilizers, also increased the worries of the farmers.

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