Spices Board will stay firm on the e-auction system for cardamom and will soon extend it all centres, board chairman VJ Kurian said. He was speaking to FE after a meeting with the stakeholders of Bodinayakannur where traders are calling for a boycott of the electronic system and demanding a revival of the old open cry system.
?We are hopeful that the traders will participate in the next auction. If not, we will implement e-auction for all auction centres from the next auction,? Kurian said. The e-auction centre at Bodinayakannur will function as the fulcrum for the electronic auctioning until a new centre in Kerala is established. Pepper lots will still be deposited at the existing centre while traders will have to bid from the centre at Bodinayakannur.
Kurian also announced the speeding up of the establishment of an e-auction centre in Kerala. ?The new centre is likely to come up in Kumily by November 30,? he said.
Traders say that the new e-auction system is time consuming and physical verification of the quality is absent.
The centre was inaugurated last month to bring transparency into the auctioning system. The system also discourages speculation, as the identity of bidder is not revealed during the course of auction. Cardamom Planters Association president C Rajagopal told FE that only small sections of traders were against the electronic auction.
?The board has given them a patient hearing and hopefully they will participate in the auction process,? he said.