Sesame Seeds prices have recovered to slightly under the same levels this time last year. The lockdown in main origin countries, such as India and even in destination points such as Australia, the far east and Europe had put a damper on prices for most of summer. Prices languished at around the $ 1600 – 1650 per mt mark for Hulled Sesame Seeds from origins like India and Nigeria.
However, the ETO issue relating to Indian sesame seeds have geared up prices firstly by constraining supplies from India and increasing the costs to exporters from product recall and
future testing for ETO as per an EU defined protocol. Indian and Nigerian crops have been slow to arrive at trading markets and India, which was earlier expecting a crop size of 400,000 mt have now revised this expectation to 250,000 mt. At the same time demand has opened up in the larger importing countries such as China and South Korea.
Indian prices have increased, in the past few weeks by around $ 150/ mt. At the same time European customers have started looking to alternative origins, other than India, for sourcing. However, the options for this for premium hulled sesame seeds (not natural), from a GFSI accredited processor and with all the EU regulatory requirements of Maximum Residue Levels of Pesticides, Salmonella, Aflatoxins and Microbial Loads, are few and far between. This has pushed up prices from countries such as Nigeria, which have some GFSI factories, to levels higher than India, i.e. $ 1830 – 1880 per mt on C&F basis.
Currently, Indian sesame seeds exports to EU ports have been suspended pending clarification from the EU regarding the testing protocol for ETO analysis. EU is calling for using a testing protocol
known as L53.00-1:1999-11. The Indian side, represented by Indian Oilseeds and Produce Export Promotion Council ( IOPEPC), argue that this protocol is currently used for testing pesticides residue levels in spices but that there is no validation benchmark for carrying out similar tests in sesame seeds. This matter is expected to be resolved in a meeting between the EU and IOPEPC scheduled for mid November. So the earliest that one expects Indian shipments to resume to EU is late November.
Here at Edible Solutions, we are offering Nigerian Hulled Sesame Seeds, from a GFSI accredited mill and including CoA and ETO testing certificates issued by SGS at $ 1850 C&F to European ports. Nigeria does not offer Natural Sesame Seeds to EU due to technical reasons.
levels of $ 1860 and Natural Sesame Seeds at $ 1695 per mt on C&F basis, subject to ETO protocol being agreed. These prices are for premium grades.
