After a series of natural calamities and poor harvests, the price of spices from ginger to nutmeg have rocketed in one of the hidden stories of global food inflation. Traders and brokers reported prices of some spice staples have increased more than tenfold over the past five years and in turn hit food manufacturers and consumers.

Speculators have joined the fray encouraged by high prices and poor returns on the financial markets, leading to hoarding and pushing up prices.

Several years of hurricanes and devastation in major spice growing areas have led to a perfect storm of circumstances that contributed to the price rises. Cyclones that hit Madagascar destroyed vanilla crops, hurricanes in the West Indies affected nutmeg and unpredictable monsoons in India cut chilli harvests. Milan Shah, who imports spices for the UK food industry, struck deals to buy cardamom at £1.20 a kilo in 2007 but four years on the price stands at £16.50.

In Britain prices have followed the upward trend in the £250m a year herb-and-spice market where demand is fuelled by a growth in ethnic cooking and health concerns: reducing the salt level in diets has resulted in an increased use of spices, said Anthony Palmer, UK General […]