A sharp decline in off-take by the largest buyer, China, impacted India’s cumin (jeera) exports during the 2025-26 financial year, with the shipment value and volume witnessing a decline of 28 per cent and 14 per cent, respectively.

Cumin exports during FY26 were lower at 1.96 lakh tonnes, down from 2.29 lakh tonnes in 2024-25. Export value in dollar was down at $524 million from $732.35 million. In rupee value, exports were down 25 per cent at Rs 4611.15 crore over Rs 6178.86 crore.

The Chinese demand dropped sharply, with volume witnessing a 76 per cent decline at 9,271 tonnes from 38,721 tonnes a year ago. In value terms, cumin exports to China dropped 80 per cent to $22.81 million from $114.51 million, as per the official data.

Good domestic crop

“Last year, China had a very good crop of around 85,000-90,000 tonnes, and hence, it avoided buying from India,” said Yogesh Mehta of SpicExim. Shipments to West Asia (Middle East) and the North African (MENA) region were impacted during the year due to the Iran-US-Israel conflict, Mehta said.

Exports to other major buyers such as the US, UAE, Bangladesh and UK declined during the year, whereas shipments to Turkey picked up.

Tejus Gandhi, Chairman, Federation of Indian Spice Stakeholders (FISS), attributed the decline in exports to reduced demand from China and also geopolitical tensions in West Asia. “With the US-Iran deal reached we may see some demand coming in going forward,” he said.

Cumin exports to US were down at 15458 tonnes (17384 tonnes in FY25) valued at $50 million ($67.35 million), while the shipments to UAE dropped to 29752 tonnes (30694 tonnes) valued at $72.15 million ($89.21 million). Exports to Bangladesh were lower at 29,579 tonnes (30,515 tonnes) valued at $70.27 million ($88.33 million). Exports to Turkey saw more than five fold increase at 7529 tonnes (967 tonnes) valued at $19.61 million ($3.33 million).

Turkey, Syria problems

“Turkey has facing issues with soil fertility and is unable to grow cumin seeds. It had only option to buy from India, while the Syrian crop was not up to the mark,” Mehta said.

According to the trade, China is likely to harvest a bigger crop this year due to favourable weather and better farming techniques. Besides, China, the Syrian crop is also large and better. As a result, Indian cumin may face stiff competition, Mehta said.

He said about 60 per cent of the Gujarat crop and around 45 per cent of the Rajasthan crop have already arrived in the market. “If the weak trend in exports continue this year, we may see farmers shifting to other crops and face higher carryover stocks,” he said.

Published on June 19, 2026