The prolonged winter in North Indian cities seems to have taken its toll on cardamom auctions on Wednesday, with the prices registering a Rs 50-100 drop in different categories in the wake of minimal buyer participation. This was basically because of the inactive participation of upcountry buyers as cold wave sweeping across the northern Indian market hit retail sales of cardamom in major cities, said traders.  Around 5000 kg of capsules was not sold in the auction held today at Bodinayakanur as lot movements in the trading process was slow due to the non active participation of upcountry buyers. The market was mainly handled by local buyers from Tamil Nadu to cover up the Pongal requirements as well as stockists. Though arrivals was comfortable, prices declined following a muted demand which is expected to continue in the coming days. The market is expecting one more round of harvest during January-February and the next crop season will purely depend on climate as middle summer showers expected to stabilise the May crop, traders said. The total quantity offered in both the trading sessions was 104 tonnes.