The off-take remains slow with thin purchases by the bulk consuming sectors of restaurants, hotels and caterers and slow progress on exports as against last year. International jeera prices have fallen, too, hovering in the range of $1,780-1,800 (FOB rates) per tonne, about 35-40 per cent lower than what was quoted in the same period last year. Trades on the commodity exchanges in the spice commodity showed weakness with NCDEX jeera futures for July delivery quoted at Rs.13,755 on Monday, paring about one percentage point from the previous close. The Unjha market has announced that due to Covid-19, jeera auctions will be held only alternate days to avoid crowding and congestion at the yard. “There is not enough demand from the domestic market. We are seeing that international prices are also suppressed as supplies are believed to be higher this year. Afghanistan has come up as a competing country for us in the European market, with its about 7,000 tonnes of crop. As per the trade estimations, Syria’s crop is likely to be around 25,000 tonnes, while that for Turkey will hover around 10,000 tonnes. India’s jeera crop is estimated to be 29 per cent higher the previous year. The estimated production for 2020 is estimated at 5,35,500 tonnes, as against the estimated 4,16,600 tonnes in 2019, FISS data showed in crop projections earlier this year. The overall yield is estimated to be about 522 kg per hectares with a marginal increase of 3 per cent over the previous year.