MUMBAI, 9 June 2025: The arrival of monsoon brings with it a lull in the markets of agricultural products. Farmers are busy with farming, traders are busy settling old accounts and stockists are busy making arrangements so that their goods do not get soaked in the warehouses.
However, the coriander business has been in a monsoon-like mood for the last one month. Whether it is spot markets or futures, coriander prices are in a stagnant state everywhere. If we look at the NCDEX futures prices, they have been moving up and down like a pendulum for the last one month, between a high of INR 7150 per quintal and a low of INR 6930. However, after seeing a slight uptick when the season started, there has been a continuous slowdown. On March 26, the price of coriander per quintal was INR 7800. While on June 4, it fell to INR 6930.
In fact, when the Rabi season planting figures started coming in, it was estimated that this time the sowing would decrease and the production of coriander would be 25 percent less. Due to which the arrivals of coriander was also expected to decrease. However, as the season progressed, this assumption of the traders proved to be wrong. Traders say that the production of coriander this time has been only five to 10 percent less. Similarly, the arrivals have also been higher than expected.
Right now, everyone is counting on the season to end with arrivals barely 10 percent less than last year. However, now with the onset of rains, even those arrivals will decrease. According to a new survey, this time the cultivation of coriander is about 10 percent more in Gujarat, while the cultivation of coriander in the Hadauti belt of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh is expected to have decreased by 10 to 20 percent.
Traders were hoping for new demand during the Eid festivals, but no such special demand has been made. The local market is completely sluggish. Exports were also hit due to the war with Pakistan. Now, if the Gulf countries start buying the Eid festivals, the price may increase. And farmers may get affordable prices. If we look at the export figures, India exported 108615 tons of coriander in 2023-24.
In contrast, India exported barely 54482 tons of coriander in the previous year. In February 2025, 5433 tons were exported, which was even less than the 6577 tons of coriander exported in February-2024. In the period from March-2024 to February-2025, 63435 tons of coriander were exported. Which is 44 percent less than the export of the same period last year.
It is true that farmers have not got the good prices they expected. But this is the market, and now it is connected with the global market. Therefore, farmers will also have to get into the habit of buying put options in NCDEX futures to reduce their risk. Then if the price is higher at the time of delivery, farmers can deliver their goods in the spot market.
However, due to the difference between the spot market price and the NCDEX futures market price, the interest rate on the cash & carry is around 11 to 12 percent. Taking advantage of this opportunity, investors can earn without risk. Currently, the daily trading volume in the futures is Rs 50 crore and there is an open interest of about 20,000 tonnes. Since the futures are liquid, there is no risk for investors. Since about two lakh tonnes of coriander have come into the market so far, it is unlikely that there will be a large stock at the end of the season.
By Kalpesh Sheth is an commodities expert with years of experience.
