Black cardamom earns Nepal a record Rs 12.6bn as the new crop opens at a higher price
The spice became Nepal's second-largest export last year on price rather than volume. Almost all of it still goes to India unprocessed, and farmers keep a small share of the value.
Large cardamom, the smoky black spice grown under forest shade in Nepal's eastern hills, had its best year on record. Exports in the 2025/26 fiscal year, which ended in mid-July, reached Rs 12.64bn (about $82m), up 64.58% from Rs 7.68bn a year earlier, according to Department of Customs figures reported by Enewspolar. In the first 11 months alone Nepal shipped 6,034 tonnes worth Rs 12.01bn, The Kathmandu Post reported, making cardamom the country's second-largest export after refined soybean oil, Himal Press noted.
The record came from price, not volume. Himal Press compared the year with 2022/23, when Nepal exported 9.99m kilograms but earned only Rs 8.27bn. In 2024/25 it sold 4.30m kilograms for Rs 7.68bn. The Kathmandu Post reported that prices held unusually steady at about Rs 2,500 a kilo through the year, which encouraged farmers to sell rather than hoard. The spice has a history of sharp swings: the same paper recorded a peak of Rs 3,000 a kilo in 2016 and a low of Rs 700 in July 2022.
A new season starts higher
The 2026 harvest has begun on a firm footing. New cardamom opened at Rs 95,000 per man of 40 kilograms in Taplejung in mid-August, Rs 13,000 more than the opening price a year earlier, The Rising Nepal reported. That works out at roughly Rs 2,375 a kilo. The main picking season runs through October and November, and Taplejung is the largest producing district.
The early export numbers for the new fiscal year are softer. Exports in the first two months fell to about 173 tonnes from 215 tonnes a year earlier, with earnings down from $3.71m to $3.30m, according to Commodity Board, a trade publication. It described the market in September as range-bound, with tight spot stocks supporting prices and a crop that traders in Nepal and India expect to be good capping any rise.
One buyer, little processing
Nepal is the world's largest grower of large cardamom. The Kathmandu Post put its share of global production at 52%, against 37% for India and 11% for Bhutan; Himal Press put it at more than 55%. Yet about 99% of exports go to India, the Post reported, and much is re-exported, with Pakistan taking roughly 60% of India's onward sales.
That chain leaves most of the value outside Nepal. Himal Press reported that Nepali farmers typically receive less than Rs 2,000 a kilo, about $14, while Nepali cardamom fetches up to $28 a kilo abroad after processing and branding in India. Direct sales to other markets face obstacles: the Post noted that Bangladesh charges a 35% customs duty despite a preferential 5% rate under the South Asian free trade agreement.
Yields are also low. Nepal grows the spice on 16,382 hectares at an average of 531 kilograms a hectare, according to the Post, against about 2,000 kilograms in India. Cultivation has spread from the eastern hills to more than 54 districts, Kantipur reported in March, citing the Cardamom Development Centre in Fikkal, though more than three-quarters of the area remains in 12 districts of Koshi Province.
What to watch
The October and November harvest will decide whether 2026/27 can match last year's record. Prices in Taplejung as the main crop arrives, and monthly customs figures on volume, will show whether a good crop pushes prices down from their current level.
How this story was made: researched and written by The Standard’s desk with AI assistance, from the published reporting and official data credited below, and checked against those sources. Our standards.
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