Ginger from Singapore is of superior quality when compared with the Indian crop. It is white in colour, two to three times bigger in size and not muddy, said Koyembedu Perishable Foods Associations Action Committee president G Shanmuha Sundaram. His company NRP Agro recently imported 26.52 tonnes ginger priced at Rs 7.5 lakh from Singapore. If the response is favourable and local prices continue to be high, the company plans to import an additional 250 tonnes soon.

Since the fully-grown Kerala ginger is currently priced between Rs 2,300 and Rs 2,500 per bag (a standard ginger bag weighs 60 kg), it makes business sense to import it now. Each bag of importedginger is expected to be priced at Rs 200 to Rs 300 higher than a bag of mature Kerala ginger, he said.

Ginger merchants however feel that there would have been higher realisations if ginger was imported earlier. But they had not anticipated that there would be no respite in prices in the last three months when the local ginger prices had spiralled upto Rs 2,700 per bag.

Ginger is cultivated all through the year mainly in Kerala and Assam. But since the last three to four years, it is also being cultivated in Kodugu, Karnataka. This ginger fetches slightly higher price than the Kerala variety as it is free from Mahali disease which strikes most ginger crops in the country. About 60 to 70 tonnes of ginger is transported from Kodugu to other parts of the country, said Sadiq Moonakal, partner, Chennai Bharat Ginger Trading Company.

This year ginger transported from Kerala dropped from dropped from the normal 20 to 25 trucks (each containing 9 to 10 tonne) per day to less than 12 trucks per day. To add tothat there was low production in Assam as well. Gujarat and Maharashtra also depended on Kodugu crop this year, nearly trebling up last year's price of Rs 900 per bag of mature Kerala ginger.

Ginger from Assam, which was priced at Rs 800 to Rs 900 per bag last year, has also shot up to Rs 1,800 to Rs 1,900 per bag, said ginger merchants in Chennai.

"This is the first time in the last 25 years when there was low production in so many states in the same year," said Sundaram. Usually when the crop in Kerala fails, we get our supplies from Assam, Karnataka or Andaman, he said.

The low production of ginger in 1998-1999 is followed by bumper crops in the preceding two years. As the overproduction of ginger in 1996 and 1997, had resulted in a price drop, many ginger farmers did not plant the root in 1998. Also, when ginger is cultivated for two consecutive years in one piece of land, it does not grow there again. This is one of the reasons why ginger cultivation in Gudalur in Nilgiris, which was famous forits ginger 10 years ago, has completely stopped in the last two years, said Indian ginger trading company partner B Sriramulu.

The Chennai wholesale market is currently receiving new/tender ginger planted in February-March this year. It is being sold at Rs 1,500 to Rs 1,600 per bag in the wholesale market against Rs 700 to Rs 800 per bag last year. And in the retail market it is now being sold at around Rs 40 per kg (Rs 2,400 per bag). However, this ginger cannot be stored for more than a day or two. When the new crop matures in September-October this year, prices of ginger are expected to firm up at around Rs 1,000 per bag. The ginger merchants here are also expecting good production this year.