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HYDERABAD : They have the same colour–yellow. And they have been the hottest commodities in India in 2009. Turmeric, the yellow spice extensively used in foods and medicines and gold, the yellow metal, that is the toast of investing public, have emerged as the hottest, competing commodities in India in 2009. 0

Is the low-profile agricultural commodity, turmeric, a competition to the globally most sought-after investment asset gold? Yes, in India, the simple, spicy, yellowish turmeric has beaten gold, the yellow metal, in investment returns.


While gold prices gained by nearly 35% in India, turmeric prices have risen by a whopping 300% in India in 2009. Agricultural commodity expert Reghuram Pillai says the boom in turmeric prices in India can be compared to the boom in garlic prices in China. 0

“In China, garlic has beaten gold in investment returns. In India, turmeric has beaten gold in investment returns,” Pillai told Commodity Online. 0

Garlic, the white, spicy bulb among commodities, is in the news these days thanks to China. Garlic is the darling for investors, traders, farmers, exporters and retail merchants across China. If commodities are big investment propositions in the booming Chinese market, garlic takes the top honour as the best investment asset! No wonder, investment pundits like Jim Rogers have been pouring in money into agricultural commodities in China. 0

Garlic prices have shot up by more than 50 per cent in the last few months in China that there is an acute supply vs. demand crisis on the commodity. Garlic is regarded as the best commodity with lots of medicinal properties in China. So when swine flu hit several countries across the world a few months back, millions of Chinese reposed their faith in garlic that supposedly can fight prevent the viral attack. 0

Now look at what has happened to turmeric in India, as it has happened with garlic in China. 0

In January 2009, turmeric price was hovering around Rs 4,200 per quintal. Since then, turmeric price has been on a surge, touching an all-time high of high of Rs 13,850 per quintal in October. These days, the current going price in turmeric is around Rs 10,200-10,500 per quintal in the leading turmeric markets like Erode and Hyderabad. 0

According to Federation of All Trade and Industry Association in Erode District treasurer and turmeric trader V K Rajamanickam, turmeric price has been soaring in the last 12 months of the year thanks to a drastic downfall in production.0

“Turmeric production has come down as farmers find it difficult to meet the cost of cultivating the spice. A large number of farmers in key turmeric growing areas in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh have abandoned its cultivation and shifted to other profit-making agricultural crops like cotton,” he said. 0

Growing demand for turmeric from the food industry, export houses and the pharmaceutical industry also led to the big rise in turmeric prices this year, Rajamanickam added. 0

He says that farmers are now coming back to cultivating turmeric, after witnessing the unprecedented price rise in turmeric this year. “Yes, turmeric prices have beaten gold in India, if you are talking about investment returns,” he added. 0

India is one of the largest gold consuming and importing nations in the world. As gold prices surged in the global markets, the yellow metal has been going steady in the Indian bullion market also. Gold prices that stood around Rs 13,000 per 10 grams in the Indian market in July, surged to a historic high of Rs 18,000 per ten grams in November this year.


“But the gains in gold prices have not kept pace with that of turmeric, if you go by the investment in spot and futures market in these commodities,” says Akhil Sharma, a commodity dealer in Hyderabad. 0

Turmeric “the golden spice of life” is one of most essential spice used as an important ingredient in culinary all over the world. Turmeric is a tropical plant perennial herbs, curcuma domestically cultivated in India since ancient time. As early as 3000 B.C., the turmeric plants were cultivated by Harappan civilization. 0

Turmeric has been used medicinally throughout Asia to treat stomach and liver ailments.0