Across the world, demand is on the rise for high-value spice crops such as caraway and cumin. This is good news for those looking to establish a new export-focused industry in Northern Australia.
The CRC for Northern Australia’s Spicing Up the North research project recently released four new commodity market assessments, for caraway, kalonji, cumin and fennel. The assessments show that the market price for some of these condiments – in particular, cumin and kalonji seeds – is up to US$3000 a tonne.
The research, conducted at Rockhampton’s CQUniversity, found that middle-class tastes for new flavours, and the rise of spices as ingredients in health products, were key contributors to burgeoning global demand.
“Trend analyses indicate that demand for all of these spices, in both Australian and international markets, is likely to continue increasing in coming years,” Lead CQU researcher, Associate Professor Delwar Akbar, told CRCNA News. “This presents a major opportunity to the Australian agricultural sector to replace Australia’s current spice imports with domestically produced crops, and for farmers to profit from the high values on offer.”
“Pending proof of their suitability to northern Australian environments, and possible fit within northern farming systems, future research will be required to understand the entire value chain, including investigating value-adding opportunities for health and medicinal products,” Dr Akbar said.
Source: Global spice boom – an opportunity for new ag exports I CRC for Developing Northern Australia