India’s spice markets spent the second half of May waiting on buyers rather than supply, and this fortnight produced a rare clear signal in cumin: a named floor. Leading Unjha traders told visiting buyers the trade will not sell below $2.09 to $2.11/kg, the first explicit floor of the season. Delhi ordinary grade drifted from $2.40 to around $2.32/kg before closing near $2.36, while machine-clean lots held between $2.46 and $2.53 as quality buyers kept paying up.
The cumin paradox is that a collapse in arrivals has done almost nothing to prices. Daily Unjha arrivals fell from a record 65,000 bags in early April to 9,000-14,000 bags, a drop of more than 85%, yet there are no buyers waiting on the other side. China is absent with an adequate Xinjiang crop, Bangladesh came and went, and the Gulf channel has been largely shut since West Asian shipping was disrupted. Spice Board data show exports down 15% in volume and 28% in value over ten months. Traders do not expect China to return before late June or July.
Coriander told a quieter but more structural story. Badami in Delhi held flat at $1.47/kg for most of the period before ticking up to $1.48 on May 26, when Baran arrivals fell to just 400 to 500 bags. The supply math is tightening: sowing is down 13% to 20% across the main states, and carry-forward stock is now estimated at 20 to 25 lakh bags against 40 to 45 lakh two years ago. Steady export demand has kept the market from following domestic weakness lower, and the analysis sees a gradual grind toward $1.55 to $1.60/kg over the coming weeks.
Turmeric was effectively flat. A wave of farmer selling to fund Kharif preparations pushed Erode Gatta from around $1.54 toward $1.48-$1.50/kg in mid-period, before rainfall reports lifted it back near $1.54 by May 29.