19 August 2019

CARDAMOM

1.0    INTRODUCTION

Cardamom, the queen of spices, with its varied uses and dominance in the global spice trade, is the oldest and widely used spice in the world. It has occupied a position that is supreme and unique and is today a foreign exchange earner for several countries e.g. India, Indonesia, Guatemala, Vietnam and etc. Cardamom has secured a pivotal position in food, pharmaceutical, perfumery and cosmetic industries. With the development of modern science and technology and greater awareness and demand among people for the use of natural products, particularly in food and pharmaceuticals, cardamom has indeed secured a better position and has better prospect in the years to come. Trade on cardamom can promote sustainable cardamom industry, to reduce the number of poor cardamom farmers in low income countries.

In order of importance, cardamom is considered the second important spice next to pepper for its “low volume high value” nature. In fact cardamom was originally grown as a wild crop and the native tribal living in the interior forest cared for its growth and harvest. Organised form of cardamom plantation was undertaken only after the economic value of the cardamom was discovered. Cardamom is a fruit of several spices of the Zingiberaceae (ginger family) from the Genus, Amomum and Elettaria a monotypic genus, represented by Elettaria cardamom, distributed in the tropical Indo-malaya region and cultivated for the capsules, which furnish the cardamom commerce. Elettaria cardamom is an Indian plant in which rhizome produces leafless shoots and these bear the fruit which, when ripened yields the spice, cardamom. Elettaria cardamom is otherwise called as small cardamom or lesser cardamom or true cardamom or green cardamom.

2.0    Type of cardamom

The name cardamom is used for species within three genera in the Ginger family (Zingiberaceae), Elettaria, Amomum and Aframomum. Among these, Aframomum is widely cultivated in Africa and Madagascar, whereas Amomum mainly grows in a few places of Asia and Australia. These two varieties are considered as inferior substitutes for Elettaria cardamom, the true cardamom that is distributed from India to western Malaysia. The Elettaria cardamom, which is also known as small cardamom, green cardamom, or cardamon is native to the moist forest of southern India and cultivated in India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Sumatra, Nepal, Guatemala, Thailand, Central America, Indo China, Tanzania, Egypt, China, Indonesia, Mexico, Turkey, Laos, Vietnam, Costa Rica, El Salvador and Brazil. It is a pungent aromatic spice and medicinal herb. It is a perennial plant that can grow between six and twelve feet height. Cardamom grows well in humid and moderately cool climate, filtered sunlight through the tree canopy, humus rich soil, well-distributed rainfall and protection from heavy winds.

3.0    The history of cardamom

Cardamom originated in the monsoon forest of the Malabar coast in south-west India. It has reigned as the “master spice” from its earliest usage about 4,000 years ago. The plants grew in such abundance in this region that this area became known as Cardamom Hills. During the 19th century, plantations of cardamom were set up by British colonists and this is where much of the green and black cardamom that we use still comes from today. Guatemala is the biggest commercial producer of cardamom. In some parts of Guatemala, it is considered even more valuable than coffee as a crop.

The important of cardamom can markedly be perceived throughout history. Western adventurers travelled thousands of miles over land and sea for this lucrative trade treasure. In fact, cardamom seeds were priceless gems that lured men into the discovery of a great new world, through their cardamom trade and consequently, cardamom route. It then became an integral part of the civilization of the west.

Both big and small cardamoms are natives of India and West Indies. This spice was one of the earliest trading commodities between the Orient and European countries and many seafaring expeditions were launched in search of it.

The cardamom contains higher levels of cineol and limonene and hence is more aromatic cardamom comes from the seeds of a ginger-like plant. The small, brown-black sticky seeds are contained in a pod in three double rows with about six seeds in each row. The pods are between 5-20 mm (1/4”-3/4”) long, the larger variety known as ‘black’, being brown and the smaller being green. White-bleached pods are also available. The pods are roughly triangular in cross section and oval or oblate. Their dried surface is rough and furrowed, the large ‘blacks’ having deep wrinkles. The texture of the pod is that of tough paper. Pods are available whole or split and the seeds are sold loose or ground. It is best to buy the whole pods as ground cardamom quickly loses flavour.

4.0    Uses of cardamom

Cardamom has a myriad of uses. These include uses as a seasoning to enhance the flavor of food, as a preservative for meat, as a garnish to add piquancy and color to a host of dished and as an essential oil in perfumes, cosmetics and medicines. Cardamom is both universal and versatile. Its ability to subtly enliven foods without overpowering their flavor makes cardamom indispensable in almost every cuisine around the world today. In fact, it is widely used in the seasoning, aromatics and health food industries. It is also well-known in its medicinal and pharmaceutical uses. Ancient people believed that with its supernatural powers, cardamom could drive evil spirits. They also used this spice to mask offensive or unpleasant odours.

Over the centuries, cardamom with its diverse properties has been used to treat wide range of disorders, particularly in India. It is used in the treatment of urinary complaints, disorders of the liver, haemorrhoids and as means of removing fat. It has been used for centuries for stimulant, carminative, treatments for constipation, diarrhea and as a digestive aid. Sometimes, cardamom also added to quinine to increase its action in traditional medical uses.

More and more researchers today are recognizing the extensive application of cardamom in the preparation of antiviral and antibacterial principles in traditional systems of medicines, such as Ayurveda, aromatherapy, homeopathy and Unani. Biological investigations of cardamom have also shown that it acts as central nervous system depressant, anti-inflammatory and has hepato-protective and intestinal permeability properties.  Cardamom has been used as bioavailability enhancer to increase the permeability of intestinal cell too. The various medicinal uses of cardamom are gradually acknowledged recently, not only in India, but also in other parts of the world. Nevertheless, there is still ample room for cardamom to develop in modern medicine.

5.0    World cardamom industry

Cardamom, by virtue of its versatile use in the modern world, has earned a reputation as the Queen of spices. Cardamom rules the spice trade, both in term of volume and value. It is the most traditional and important spice in the international trade. In the global trade composition, International Trade Centre-UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development) has estimated that cardamom contributed 3% of the total spice trade by volume. In term of value and volume, the global spice trade is estimated at US $1.5 to 2.0 billion and 500 thousand metric tons in quantity (UNCTAD).

The world spice market is growing and significant growth has been noticed in specific spice segment, like hot spices in the United States and aromatic culinary herbs in France. Major growth of spices in accounted for by the industrial and food service sectors. In developed countries, the usage of cardamom in food industry has increased substantially because of its taste, flavor and seasoning characteristics. More than 60% of cardamom is consumed in the food industrial and service sectors, due to the shift in the eating habits all over the world. The remaining portion is consumed in household, medicine, perfume, health and beauty segments. Ethnic foods, like India, Chinese and Thai food make use of large amount of cardamom. These have a growing impact in many countries and are expanding to cover wide range of tastes of food. In developing countries, 90% of the cardamom is consumed in the household segments (UNCTAD).

6.0    World cardamom production and export

The production of cardamom is very much dependent on the vagaries of agro-climatic factors, pest and diseases occurrence, as well as price mechanisms. High price coupled with good culture practices, favorable weather situation and low incidence of pests and diseases often result in higher production level. Higher prices will normally increase area under cultivation, resulting in more rounds of harvest and subsequently increase cardamom production.

The most common species, Elettaria cardamomum or small cardamom is by far best in terms of quality. India is the leading small cardamom producer, producing around 38,000 MT in 2016, followed by Guatemala where the production is around 35,000 MT in the same period.

Cardamom is one of the most important export products and plays significant role in income and employment of cardamom producers. Guatemala, India, Sri Lanka,. According to Tridge-Globaltrade Platform, in 2016, the total world production of cardamom is about 121,939 MT.  India, Indonesia and Guatemala produce, on average, 104,514 MT of cardamom or 85.71% of world cardamom production and export 44,508 or 78.21% of world cardamom export.

Table 1: Top cardamom producing countries in 2016

Country	Country rank/share in production %	Production volume (MT)	Growth  production (1 year)	Export value (USD)
India	31.11	38,000	+72.7	24,022,803
Guatemala	29.04	35,475	+2.8	154,488,339

Source: Tridge – Globaltrade Platform

 

Table 2: World export of Cardamom

 

Exporter/Year	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017
World	55,976	62,901	59,587	56,905	57,178
Guatemala	38,812	38,989	33,327	35,645	35,695
Indonesia	6,698	7,737	6,246	4,034	6,892
India	2,621	4,230	5,308	4,829	4,698
Nepal	2,173	3,516	2,996	3,011	4,690
Singapore	1,487	1,425	1,638	736	961
Sri Lanka	12	5	116	767	818
Bhutan	5	53	484	38	494
Netherland	469	352	318	444	481
UAE	2,075	4,033	6,064	3,392	454
Honduras	184	218	433	676	370
UK	117	159	158	275	265
Saudi Arabia	110	326	426	420	249
Jordan	204	78	45	122	242
Myanmar	227	1,188	1,326	1,802	115
Germany	134	112	120	113	110
Guyana	0	0	0	0	107

Source: Tridge – Globaltrade Platform

 

Both cardamom pod and seed are being traded in the international spice market. Majority of the cardamom is traded in whole or unground form, although there has been a significant increase in the trade of value added cardamom products, which are popularly traded internationally, comprise of cardamom powder, cardamom oil and cardamom oleoresin.

 

Today, there is a great challenge for the cardamom producing countries to meet the increasing demand of quality products by consumers. Authorities in most of the OECD countries are imposing and enforcing stricter rule and regulations on imports and production of food and food products. Importers and processors in almost all countries are organized in trade organizations, not only to discuss contract specifications, but also to jointly find a way on how to comply with these regulations. In Europe, these trade and industries association are organized under the banner of the European Spice Association, while the America counterpart is under the American Spice Trade Association. To further ensure the cardamom and it products are in compliance with the International standards and can move freely in trade, all cardamom producing countries must work closely to develop a common strategy for improving the quality of cardamom from the farm level upwards.

 

 

7.0    World cardamom demand and consumption

The quantity imported of cardamom in 2017 has been reported 47,889 tones and annual growth value of imported between 2016-2017 is 41%, which shows international demand for cardamom has been grown (ITC, Trade Map 2017). Table below also showed that the Middle Eastern countries constitute key global consumers of cardamom. The popularity that this spice enjoys can be explained by the wide variety of national dishes using it as a major component ingredient and the age-old tradition of using cardamom spices in medicine. At the same time, the major consumer markets of the Middle East, namely Saudi Arabia and the UAE, are fully supported by product imports. A significant proportion of the import volume to these countries is supplied by Guatemala; a slightly smaller volume is supplied by India. Data obtained showed that in 2017, Saudi Arabia is the largest importer of cardamom, comprising 19.3% of the world market (UN Contrade and ITCF statistic). This is followed by UAE, Syrian, Jordan, India, Bangladesh and Singapore (UN Contrade and ITCF statistic). The Middle East continues to be the major export market for Indian cardamom, especially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where cardamom is used extensively in the preparation of “kahwa”–a drink that is a symbol of hospitality in every home–and is widely used as a flavoring  ingredients in whole and ground form. In Asia, it adds a lingering flavor to most cuisines -both modern and traditional. In the Scandinavian countries, it is used in baked products and in confectioneries. In Europe and North America, it is an ingredient in curry powder & some sausage products. The European market remains negligible, despite the use of cardamom, both as a spice and in the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries. As, cardamom are not grown in Europe, consumption is fully buoyed and supported by imports.

Table 3: World Import of Cardamom 2013-2017 

Importer	2013		2014		2015		2016		2017
	MT	USD	MT	USD	MT	USD	MT	USD	MT	USD
World	39,515	314,220	50,261	367,876	51,203	443,676	46,133	340,834	47,889	481,464
UAE	6,750	53,409	10,872	81,563	12,802	106,192	5,937	43,971	9,226	95,969
Saudi Arabia	12,155	126,660	11,513	114,286	11,005	122,364	9,590	88,644	8,135	121,864
Vietnam	59	702	28	230	9	76	13	98	6,398	9,949
India	1,845	13,589	4,626	34,090	4,485	53,990	4,399	44,276	4,369	38,646
Bangladesh	1,765	16,377	0	0	3,981	35,713	3,459	20,144	3,737	35,417
Nepal	177	649	1,959	8,106	428	2,376	1,390	9,023	1,481	10,525
Jordan	1,980	7,740	1,035	4,630	1,161	8,112	1,322	8,711	1,348	12,536
Kuwait	833	9,181	915	9,313	906	10,140	992	9,092	1,084	14,914
Singapore	1,600	9,674	1,598	10,037	1,491	11,566	795	5,709	1,069	11,905
Syrian	2,145	6,062	2,054	7,912	2,153	9,361	1,661	5,711	9,009	6,935
Egypt	0	0	1,312	9,767	915	7,735	925	8,467	874	10,205
US	941	9,719	984	7,901	969	8,740	1,117	9,109	856	10,655
UK	698	6,763	671	7,097	629	6,938	592	6,329	704	8,736
Iraq	0	0	0	0	319	1,787	1,571	8,884	703	7,622
Netherland	688	3,090	712	3511	527	3,235	848	5,095	679	6,242
Germany	615	3,996	584	3,944	479	4,051	547	4,291	553	6,254
Qatar	546	5,580	297	2,383	429	3,580	400	2,779	458	5,414
Oman	441	2,456	592	2,238	544	2,345	396	1,889	428	3,121
Japan	360	4,791	365	3,759	339	4,007	296	3,361	382	5,457
Malaysia	309	1,669	282	1,487	341	2,615	383	3,721	349	3,520
Sri Lanka	27	323	40	252	59	479	305	2,787	322	2,192
Sudan	0	0	0	0	0	0	865	4,519	285	2,120
Canada	314	2,939	226	1,967	298	3,254	191	2,139	273	3,798
Iran	247	1,022	159	652	0	0	821	5,644	214	3,652
Myanmar	31	368	64	524	49	417	140	1,009	204	2,085
Other	141	601	51	267	10	98	60	514	218	2,008

Source: Codex committee on spice and culinary herbs 4th session meeting report, (2018). 

The highest annual rates of growth with regard to cardamom consumption from 2013 to 2017 were recorded in 2017 with a more than 14% growth indicated that there is an increasing demand in cardamom in future market. Amongst the leading consuming countries, high levels of per capita consumption were recorded in the UAE (0.98 kg per 1,000) and Saudi Arabia (0.25 kg per 1,000), which were significantly higher than the global average of 6.2 mg per 1,000.

Table 4: Pattern of world cardamom import 

World import data
Year	Import quantity, MT	Value, USD	Growth rate in value (%)
2013	39,515	314,220	–
2014	50,261	367,876	+17
2015	51,203	443,676	+20
2016	46,133	340,834	-30
2017	47,889	481,585	+14

    Source: Codex committee on spice and culinary herbs 4th session meeting report, (2018). 

8.0    World cardamom price

Cardamom price tend to move in a cyclical way and price fluctuations vary from one year to the next. In general, price vary substantially, largely because of the fluctuations in the supply from major cardamom producing countries. The price swings were accentuated by speculative trading in the past, but this has been less evident in recent years. The price in 2016 -2019 were recorded as the most favorable years, which registered the highest average price level. The price reached a peak during in 2018 at USD 31.96/kg.  Today, the cardamom price reached another peak at USD60.86/kg. International market price of cardamom is depends much on the supply and demand relations, beside other factors, such as psychology and speculation. To avoid waste of resources and most important to protect the welfare of the poor cardamom farmers, exchange of information is needed crucial, to give more exact and reliable information for international businessman in the cardamom producing countries and to make correct decisions in stockholding, as well as the sale of cardamom.

Table 5: World cardamom prices

Years	Max price (USD/kg)	Average price (USD/kg)
2019	60.86	27.45
2018	31.96	17.45
2017	14.58	12.45
2016	20.14	17.10
2015	13.96	8.41
2014	13.59	10.85
2013	12.76	12.48

Source: India Spice Board daily price report, 2019

9.0    Challenges to cardamom industry

On market access, non-tariff barriers coming in the way of access to the markets of industrial countries need to be reviewed. Cardamom producing countries must become a part of the process, by which sanitary and phyto-sanitary (sanitation standards of plant and plant-generic products in the market of the importing nations) standards are set. These are often used by developed countries to create trade barriers against developing country exports. Cardamom producing countries must argue against obligatory, across-the-board tariff reductions. Developing countries must be allowed to place quantitative restrictions on imports wherever there is clear evidence that imports will erode or destroy the livelihoods of asset-poor groups.

 

The key challenge in the international market, faced by the cardamom exporters is the market price volatility of more than 60% with high frequency changes, i.e. from USD 8.0 to over USD 15.00 per kg in 3 months. The cardamom production is affected by excess or shortage of rains, so production increases or decreases rapidly. The shelf lives of various varieties of cardamom berries are not long, under normal open storage conditions. Moreover, the producers are not economically in a position to afford to wait for the prospects of a revival of prices in the market or price stabilization, which generally are not predictable. Added to that are the price manipulative tactics practiced by many foreign import market intermediaries. In the international markets, where stringent regulatory norms are set by importing countries, high quality packaging is the need of the hour. The respective government should take measures to support their country exporters to improve their packaging and develop modern packaging for increased shelf life, increased attractiveness and visibility, reduced storage space, customer friendly opening and closing, and overall better presentation of their spices in markets abroad. Scientifically devised and qualitative packaging would not only keep the product safe, but also promote sales. Better packaging will reduce risk of contamination and damage during transit.

 

Cardamom exporters are not satisfied with the pricing practices adopted by the market intermediaries. There is considerable degree of exploitation by the intermediaries in the cardamom market. Small and medium scale producers of cardamom are being exploited more than the large-scale producers. Exploitation by market intermediaries differ depending on the experience levels of the cardamom producers. The least experienced are being exploited more than the rest. In general, marketing societies are more realistically useful and effective to the cardamom exporters in sourcing the commodity.

Most of the exporters do not get the international price for the spices exported. Risks of contract defaults and settlement problems are very high in the spices export business. Small and medium scale exporters experience the problem more, compared to the large-scale exporters. Spices exporters of different forms of business do not differ in this respect, but the new entrants have more difficulties than the experienced ones.

There are monopolies in the international market that are strong enough to control the global trade and prices of spices. Many of the exporters are experiencing the adverse consequence of such practices. Speculative practices influence the global spices market considerably. Such practices in the export market have both positive & negative impacts on the export business.

Exchange rate fluctuations do not have telltale impacts on majority of the small-scale export businesses. On the other hand, the large-scale exporters do feel such impacts, which could be either positive depending on upward trend of the currency value and vice versa. Further, the impact of the exchange rate fluctuation is more on experienced exporters than on new entrants.

From the domestic fronts, challenges also come from upstream, midstream and downstream activities. From the upstream activities, the issue includes:

• High cost of production;
• Low production yield;
• Overdose of usage of fertilizer and pesticide;
• Majority of farmers are old and not educated;
• Shortage of labor;
• Instabilities of price;
• Stiff competition from low cost producer.

Issue from the midstream activities include:

• Problems of cleanliness in postharvest processing, packing and storage;
• Usage of unhygienic material for harvesting and picking cardamom;
• Lack of primary processing facilities to process harvested berries and which are ready for consumption.

Issue and challenges from downstream activities as below:

• Limited investment from local cardamom traders;
• Lack of R&D expertise in cardamom;
• Lack of R&D infrastructure in land (trial) and laboratories;
• Low investment in value addition by traditional cardamom traders;
• Problem of support services, such as shipping, and lack of packaging industries still not competitive;
• Local traders and exporter are more inclined to remain as commodity trader.

10.0    Potential and strategies

The cardamom industry has the potential to expand in line with several developments such as:

• The general increase in global demand for cardamom of about 3% to 6% annually recently compared to 5 years ago;
• The increase in food processing activities;
• The rapid growth, especially in food processing industries in China, Europe and Middle East which increase demand for cardamom and cardamom products;
• The growth potential of food and nonfood sectors, especially in health and nutritional products.

Thus, to market cardamom and cardamom products we should consider the following activities:

• Rationalize our position in the traditional markets;
• Explore new market and new market segments and niches, namely trade segment, industrial, institutional segment and end-user segments;
• Conduct selective market promotion;
• Move away from commodity traders and look more towards end-users;
• Export more of value-added products;
• Use quality and product specifications instead of price as the main strategic focus;
• Develop a more effective market intelligent mechanism;
• Conduct aggressive internal promotion.

In order to realize the potential of the industry, several strategies need to be carried out from the upstream to the downstream sectors, such as:

Upstream

• Increase productivity;
• Production of quality planting material and specialty varieties;
• Improve culture practice and farming systems;
• Research and development to do

• Improve production system;
• Biotechnology research to produce disease resistant variety with high quality pods;
• More product diversification;
• Develop product toward more market oriented;

• Aggressive farm level extension.

Midstream

• Improve postharvest practice and processing technique
• Conduct course on GAP
• Look for cost effective technology to upgrade pepper quality and process e.g. HACCP
• To work closely with SME and traders association through dialogues, seminar or joint promotion program.

Downstream

• To diversify the use of cardamom to include both food and non-food;
• Value addition;
• Application of biotechnology in the cardamom industry.

 

11.0    Cardamom quality

Global demand for cardamom is expected to increase in future, mainly on account of increased culinary application and functional foods. It can lead to increase cardamom trade. Due to the important of the food safety, hygiene, quality control of cardamom specifications, it’s necessary to develop an international harmonized standard.

Table 6: Specification of cardamom in different countries

Country	Grade
Guatemala	Intense Green Quality Cardamom
	Pale Green Quality Cardamom
	Mix Green Quality Cardamom
	Mix Yellow Quality Cardamom
India	AGEB – Alleppey Green Extra Bold
	AGB – Alleppey Green Bold
	AGS –  Alleppey Green Superior
Sri Lanka	LG – Lanka Green Cardamom
	LLG – Lanka Light Green Cardamom

Source: Tridge- Globaltrade Platform, Cardamom global wholesale market prices, 2019.

Certain contaminants in cardamom and cardamom products like pesticide residues when present even in very small quantities can cause health hazards and therefore, undesirable. Even their very presence is considered to be indication of poor quality. Since cardamom constitutes an important raw material for food industry, it’s liable to be checked quality and safety before being consumed by consumer or exported. To meet the increasing demand for the better quality products by consumers and importing countries, there is a need to established the MRLs of pesticide residues in cardamom. Establishing of maximum residue limits for spices was discussed by the CCPR (FAO) at several occasions. In accordance with the decision of the 46th Session of the CCPR, the MRLs of cardamom are attached at Annex 1. Beside, European Spice Association also had established their own MRLs for cardamom. The EU MRLs lists on cardamom are attached in Annex 2.

12.0    Conclusion

The cardamom industry has a vast potential since its demand globally has continuously been increasing, while strategies are drawn to strengthen the competitiveness of the cardamom industry, through widening of product range, improving grade and quality, as well as improving market capabilities. To further increase the competitiveness of cardamom industry in the world market, it must go further downstream and produce high value end-products for the food and non-food sectors. Several investment incentives must be provided by the government to spur the growth of the cardamom industry to greater heights.

Though cardamom contributed marginally to the national economy, its importance to the economy of cardamom producing countries is significant both as a foreign exchange earner and as a provider of employment to thousands of rural poor in the regions. This industry thrives on its smallholding type of farming. Thus, farmers must be constantly guided and informed of the development and issue challenging the industry. Farm level extension is particularly important to educate farmers on the safe uses of chemical fertilizer and pesticides, to improve culture practices and farming systems, in order to increase their productivity.

Annex 1: The FAO MRLs of Cardamom. 

Annex 2: The EU MRLs of Cardamom.