Barring coriander and mentha oil, futures contracts of all other spices ended lower today on the domestic exchanges.
Jeera and turmeric ended down on the National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange because of profit booking. Jeera had risen to a 10-month high of 20,675 rupees per 100 kg earlier in the day, and turmeric hit a two-week high of 6,864 rupees on Wednesday.
Coriander hit a 10-month high of 6,214 rupees per 100 kg on the expectation of a fall in acreage. “Sowing is being affected amid lower rainfall and adverse weather conditions in Rajasthan and Gujarat,” SMC Comtrade said in a report.
On the Multi Commodity Exchange of India, mentha oil futures settled higher because of rising in demand from pharmaceutical companies ahead of winter, said Alok Jain, a Rampur-based trader. Cardamom contracts hit a two-week low of 1,400 rupees per kg as MCX-accredited warehouses received their first deposit of the spice after 10 weeks.
On Wednesday, cardamom stocks were at 2.50 ton, according to data from the exchange.
Following are prices of the most-active contracts of spices on NCDEX compared with the previous session’s levels. Cardamom and mentha oil are traded on MCX:
| CONTRACT | UNIT (kg) |
PRICE (rupees) |
CHANGE (rupees) |
OPEN INTEREST (tn) |
CHANGE (tn) |
| Dec coriander | 100 | 6,209.00 | 142 | 20,510 | 660 |
| Nov jeera | 100 | 20,450.00 | (-)140 | 4,101 | (-)255 |
| Nov turmeric | 100 | 6,720.00 | (-)78 | 9,320 | (-)615 |
| Nov cardamom* | 1 | 1,400.0 | (-)8.6 | 135 | (-)10 |
| Nov menthaoil* | 1 | 1,820.0 | 4.8 | 1,516 | 44 |
* Open interest for MCX are traded in lots.
OUTLOOK
Following are the expected support and resistance levels for contracts of spices for Friday’s trade:
| CONTRACT | SUPPORT (rupees) | RESISTANCE (rupees) |
| Coriander | 6,058.00 | 6,287.00 |
| Jeera | 20,205.00 | 20,705.00 |
| Turmeric | 6,673.00 | 6,791.00 |
| Cardamom | 1,394.80 | 1,419.90 |
| Mentha oil | 1,805.60 | 1,830.10 |