ABSTRACT
Cardamom is an important spice commodity of international commerce ever since the ancient Greek and Roman period. Until 1979-80 India was the largest producer and dominated the International trade in cardamom earning valuable foreign exchange for the nation. More than 90 per cent cardamom of international commerce, both small as well as large, originated in India. However, during the past two decades, Indian cardamom is facing serious threat in the world market from Guatemala, which has slowly and steadily encroached into the traditional Indian export markets. Currently this Central American country with an average annual production of more than 13,000 mt has emerged as the top producer and exporter of cardamom in the world and India has been relegated to the second position.
