<p>Dry fruit prices have seen a decline in the range of 6-11% as demand for Diwali festival has tapered off.Consumers’ shift towards chocolates and other low-priced sweets as the dry fruit prices were very high about a month ago has led to drop in demand for dry fruits.</p> <p>“The demand for dry fruits has declined almost 30% in the last one week as most of the purchases for Diwali festival is over. The demand from corporate buyers, who were using dry fruit hampers as gift for the festival has come down alarmingly this year due to very high prices a month ago. The softening of prices in the international markets has also impacted the domestic prices this year,” said Rahul Kamath, Partner, Bola Surendra Kamath & Sons, a Mangalore-based trader of dry fruits.</p> <p>The prices of Almonds have declined 6-8% to Rs 595-610 per kg as against the peak price of Rs 645 per kg about 15 days ago. Similarly, Cashew kernel prices for W240 grade have seen a drop of 7-11% to Rs 625-650 per kg compared to the peak price of Rs 700 per kg a fortnight ago in major markets of Delhi, Mumbai and Mangalore.“Indian domestic market moved up during Sept but has been steady for the last 2-3 weeks. There is good demand for quality product – wholes as well as brokens. We can expect slow down during end of October or early November. But there should be revival of buying by traders after mid-Nov for the marriage season, depending on retail offtake in the festival season, which will end by early Nov,” said Pankaj Sampat of Samsons Traders, a Mumbai-based commodity brokerage house.</p> <p>The prices of W320 grade cashew kernels have declined from $3.35 per lb about a fortnight ago to $3.10 per lb. Similarly, almond prices have dropped from $2.70 per lb to $2.40-2.45 per lb last week.“Orders for gift boxes close a month prior to Diwali. This year, due to very high prices, the corporate houses have shifted their preference for dry fruits to other items like chocolates, biscuits, low-priced sweets and other items like glassware. The prices of dry fruit gift boxes were almost double this year compared to last year. As a result, the demand for assorted dry fruit boxes has come down as much as 30% this year,” Kamath said.</p> <p>The traders in mandis of Delhi, Chandigarh, Mumbai and Bangalore are holding enough stocks of dry fruits but are unable to sell at profitable prices due to sudden drop in demand. Unless some last minute purchases happen, mainly from sweet makers, the stockists may have to incur losses this year, he added.According to traders, a couple of months ago, prices of most of dry fruits had surged due to multiple reasons including rupee depreciation, increased demand and short supply in the domestic market among others</p> <p> </p>