New-crop cardamom 2026: what the auctions and a dry monsoon mean for buyers

What the Spices Board auctions show

The Spices Board of India publishes a weekly market report that includes a "Total for the Week" line for the Kerala and Tamil Nadu cardamom e-auctions (Puttady and Bodinayakanur centres). It gives quantity sold, the average price in rupees per kilogram, and the figure for the same week a year earlier. These are the numbers below.

Source: Spices Board weekly market reports for the dates shown. The Board describes the prices as indicative.

Three things stand out.

First, the direction changed. In mid-March the weekly average was about 15% below the same week of 2025. By late July it was Rs 3,202.74, almost 40% above the March level and nearly 20% above a year earlier.

Second, the level then held. From August to mid-September the weekly average stayed between Rs 2,999.55 and Rs 3,162.99. The 12 September report is headed "2026-2027 crop season", which is the first report in our set to compare the new season with the old one: Rs 3,042.45 against Rs 2,557.42 for the same week of 2025-26, about 19% higher.

Third, the quantities were not thin. Weekly volumes in the table range from about 520,000 kg to 680,000 kg, so the higher price was set in busy auctions, not on a few small lots.

A note on method. The weekly figure is an average across all auctioneers that traded that week, so it blends different grades and lots. It is not the price of a particular size grade, and it is not a price anyone can buy at. A buyer of 8 mm+ pods should expect to pay above the average, and a buyer of smaller or rejection grades below it. The value of the series is the trend and the year-on-year comparison, which the Board prints in the same table.

The year-on-year column puts the 2026 level in context. A year earlier, the weekly average sat between about Rs 2,430 and Rs 2,710 across the same July to September weeks, so buyers who budgeted on last year's levels have seen a clear step up.

The most recent figures we could read directly are from the Spices Board daily auction page for 29 October 2026. Two auctioneers are listed that day: Cardamom Growers Forever Private Limited, with an average of Rs 2,898.95/kg and a maximum of Rs 3,491, and Speciality Indian Food Parks Exports Private Limited, with an average of Rs 3,101.23/kg and a maximum of Rs 3,982. Single-day, single-auctioneer averages move more than the weekly total, so use them as a snapshot of the spread, not as a new trend.

A dry monsoon

Idukki is the main cardamom district in Kerala, so its rainfall is the first number to check. According to India Meteorological Department (IMD) figures reported by Onmanorama on 23 August 2026, Kerala received 1,255.5 mm of rain from 1 June to 23 August against a normal of 1,659.4 mm, a seasonal deficit of about 24%. Idukki's deficit was 46%, the second worst in the state after Wayanad at 52%.

What a deficit like that does to the crop is a separate question, and the answer arrives gradually through the picking rounds. Trade commentary from Commodity Board News (a trade website, not an official source) said in its 25 October 2026 edition that arrivals had "normalised after earlier concerns over deficient monsoon rains", and described the current move as "steady, demand-led firming rather than a weather shock". The same commentary puts June to July rainfall in the Idukki belt at about 40% below normal and says later rain improved prospects. Treat that as one trade view; the IMD figure above is the better-sourced one.

Read together with the auction data, the reasonable summary is this. The dry spell is a supply risk, the auctions have held at a higher level since July, and no source we checked shows prices spiking in October.

India and Guatemala: where the supply picture is less clear

India and Guatemala are the two main origins buyers compare, and many buyers compare them on price and availability. Reliable Guatemalan crop data is harder to find than Indian auction data, because we found no equivalent of the Spices Board's weekly public report.

One trade publication, Does Spice, reports a Guatemalan 2025-26 harvest of 16,549 tonnes, up about 17% on the previous season but below a long-term average it puts above 30,000 tonnes. This figure is trade commentary and unverified: the page was undated and returned an error when we checked it on 30 October 2026, so we have not confirmed it against the producers' association or Guatemalan export statistics. If Guatemalan volume matters to your decision, ask your supplier for current figures from the origin instead of relying on this number.

What buyers can do now

None of the sources above predicts where the price goes next, and neither do we. These are practical points that follow from the data.

• Do not wait for a "low". The weekly average has stayed at about Rs 3,000/kg or higher since late July. If your purchasing plan assumes a return to March levels, test that assumption.
• Decide your cover before you decide your price. Work out how many months of cardamom you need, and for which grade, before you look at the daily auction. That turns the market into a timing question rather than a guessing game.
• Ask for a sample of the lot. Pod size, colour and cleanliness vary between lots and between harvest rounds. Approve the actual lot before you commit, not a photograph.
• Write the grade and delivery window into the order. Size is measured in different ways, so state the grade and how it is measured. Our guide, Cardamom grades explained: 8 mm, 7 mm, AGEB and what they mean, covers this.
• Check the date on any price you are quoted. Auction averages change daily and are indicative. A price from a trade website is commentary, and the Spices Board's own reports are the reference.
• Budget for a range. Late-October highs on the Board's daily page ran about Rs 590 to Rs 880/kg above the day's average. Your price depends on the grade and lot you actually buy.

How PureNest can help

PureNest Ventures supplies green cardamom of Idukki origin, in whole pods, in 6-7 mm, 7-8 mm and 8 mm+ size grades, plus rejection grades in the same sizes. Our family has farmed and traded spices in Idukki for 30 years, and we source close to the harvest.

Before you commit, we send a sample of the lot for your approval. A product specification is agreed and shared with every quotation. Batches and lots are tested regularly by authorised laboratories, based on production and sourcing, and a Certificate of Analysis (COA) is issued for each tested batch or lot. Every shipment comes with a Certificate of Origin issued by the chamber of commerce.

We do not publish prices, because prices are quoted per order. Tell us the grade, quantity and destination, and request a quotation for current pricing from this page.