REAL LIFE NEWS: CURRY SHORTAGE WARNING
by Hazed
The latest indulgence that might be in short supply soon is curry. Oh dear. Apparently there’s a shortage of cumin, one of the spices used in curries, and that’s making prices go up.
The annual crop of cumin grown in India is predicted to be down by as much as 50% on last year, because the growing season was delayed by very high temperatures. This is added to the fact that fewer farmers are growing cumin seeds. As a result, when the crop is harvested in March it is expected that prices will rise.
Last month, in anticipation of the poor harvest, prices of cumin on the commodities market rose 11%.
This follows a glut of the crop last year, which forced prices down, so farmers decided to switch to more profitable crops instead. Now with the predicted shortage, maybe they will switch back to cumin.
Meanwhile, we can expect prices in the supply chain to end up having an effect on what we pay for a curry. Terrible news.