Farmers in Samdrup Jongkhar saw a huge leap in the price of ginger after an interval of five years. Due to the high demand for ginger in the Indian market, the spot price of ginger touched Nu 78 per kg yesterday against Nu 30 a week ago.
“Five years ago the ginger price was quite high, we could fetch Nu 2200 to Nu 2300 per bag of ginger and after that prices of ginger went down till Nu 400 to Nu 500 per bag. This year prices have increased so much, for one kg of ginger prices are Nu 78 to Nu 80 this year, which is about ngultrum 4500 per bag,” said Nagay Dorji, a farmer in Samdrup Jongkhar.
Last year, the highest price of ginger was Nu 45 a kg and Nu 18 per kg was the lowest price at this time of the year. And this year villagers are satisfied with the prices.
“Price of ginger is high this year and we haven’t got high prices like this year till now. Before for one kg, it was only Nu 25 to Nu 30, this year it has more than doubled. For only a kilogram we are getting Nu 77 to Nu 78 so we are happy with the price,” added Dawa Tshering, also a farmer in Samdrup Jongkhar.
Bhutanese farmers sold more than 100 tons of ginger to Indian traders just in a week. According to Indian traders in Samdrup Jongkhar, the ginger price has increased within a week due to less production of ginger in India. They say this year ginger price has gone up to Nu 80 per kg and it is the highest price recorded so far.
“In 2014 prices went up to Nu 75 and in 2018 prices was Nu 35 – 40. This year price has increased to double because gingers from other places haven’t hit the market, so prices are high here,” said Promoid Soikiya, an Indian trader.
“In other country production of ginger is less, so ginger out here is getting a good price. On top of that, the production of ginger is less this time so prices are going up. With heavy rainfall, ginger could not be cultivated in many parts of India this year,” added Abdul Kadar, an Indian trader.
However, they say prices are likely to decrease in coming days as gingers from Nepal is about to hit the market. They export gingers to Siliguri.
Ginger has become one of the main cash crops for some of the villagers in Samdrup Jongkhar. More than 1000 tons of gingers were produced in the district last year.
