Guatemala has no official daily farm-gate price for cardamom. What the Banco de Guatemala (Banguat) does publish is how much is exported and at what value, month by month. This page puts those figures in tables, works out the average value per exported quintal for each year, and keeps the farm prices the press has published separate, each with its date.
Quick summary: From January to July 2026, Guatemala exported US$351,036,179 of cardamom, according to Banguat (preliminary figures, file updated 26 August 2026). In 2025 it exported 0.37 million quintals worth US$433,950,371: the lowest volume since 2001, but the highest value per exported quintal in the 1994-2025 series, about US$1,186 (our calculation: value divided by volume). That value is not the farm-gate price. The last published farm price we have is from October 2022: Q2.50 to Q2.75 per pound en uva (fresh).
Cardamom exports in 2026, month by month
| Month of 2026 | Cardamom exports (US$ FOB) |
|---|---|
| January | 58,078,318 |
| February | 64,976,976 |
| March | 53,056,993 |
| April | 40,914,259 |
| May | 45,132,548 |
| June | 43,762,220 |
| July | 45,114,865 |
| January to July | 351,036,179 |
Source: Banco de Guatemala, Valor (CIF) de las importaciones y valor (FOB) de las exportaciones por producto, year 2026, preliminary figures, based on DUCA and FYDUCA customs declarations. The file read on 25 September 2026 had a modification date of 26 August 2026 and ran to July. The same table records US$8,706,815 of cardamom imports from January to July.
Banguat publishes value, not volume, in this monthly table, so a 2026 value per quintal cannot be worked out yet.
Every year since 2014: value, volume and value per quintal
| Year | Export value (US$ FOB) | Export volume (quintals) | Value per exported quintal (US$, our calculation) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 239,806,957 | 856,569 | 280 |
| 2015 | 243,046,075 | 737,005 | 330 |
| 2016 | 229,002,881 | 786,326 | 291 |
| 2017 | 366,590,843 | 785,205 | 467 |
| 2018 | 433,416,545 | 808,193 | 536 |
| 2019 | 646,943,356 | 798,946 | 810 |
| 2020 | 723,546,864 | 828,390 | 873 |
| 2021 | 519,374,941 | 725,060 | 716 |
| 2022 | 408,775,001 | 1,168,969 | 350 |
| 2023 | 360,866,605 | 1,142,516 | 316 |
| 2024 | 495,087,939 | 628,533 | 788 |
| 2025 p/ | 433,950,371 | 365,821 | 1,186 |
Sources: Banco de Guatemala, Valor (FOB) de las exportaciones realizadas por producto 1994-2025 and Volumen exportado de productos agrícolas seleccionados 1994-2025 (volume is published in millions of quintals; here it is multiplied by one million and rounded). p/ = preliminary figures. We calculate the value per quintal ourselves by dividing value by volume; Banguat does not publish it in these tables.
Three things this table shows:
- 2025 had the lowest volume since 2001 (0.33 million quintals that year, in the same series), but total value did not fall in the same proportion, because each exported quintal was worth more.
- 2022 and 2023 were high-volume, low-value years: more than 1.1 million quintals a year, at about US$350 and US$316 per quintal.
- The highest total value in the series was 2020, at US$723,546,864.
Why the value per quintal is not the farm-gate price
FOB value is the value declared on export, an average of everything that left the country that year. The grower sells earlier, and the press reports two forms of sale: cardamom en uva (fresh) and en pergamino (dried), at different prices. According to Irineo Tomás of the Asociación de Cardamomeros Cuna del Oro Verde de Guatemala, quoted by Prensa Libre in 2022, it takes 5.25 quintals of uva to make one quintal of pergamino.
Published farm prices (with their dates)
We have no published farm-gate price for 2025 or 2026 from the press or growers’ groups (search of 25 September 2026). These are the ones that exist:
| Date of the article | What was paid | Who said it | Outlet |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6 October 2022 | Q2.50 to Q2.75 per pound en uva, at the start of the harvest | Santiago Maquín, grower in Ixcán, Quiché | Prensa Libre |
| 6 October 2022 | A pound en uva sold for Q4 to Q6 in 2021 and Q10 to Q15 in 2020 | Santiago Maquín | Prensa Libre |
| 6 October 2022 | Quintal en pergamino: up to Q10,000 in January 2020; Q1,500 in October 2022 | Irineo Tomás, Asociación de Cardamomeros Cuna del Oro Verde | Prensa Libre |
| 6 October 2022 | International price between US$8 and US$11 per kilo, against up to US$22 the year before | Efraín Álvarez, Agexport cardamom committee | Prensa Libre |
| 21 October 2021 | Quintal at Q3,300; the year before, between Q4,000 and Q4,500; 10-year average Q2,800 | Mario del Cid, Agexport cardamom committee | El Periódico, via MONEC |
Santiago Maquín said in 2022 that at Q4 a pound the grower barely covered the cost of upkeep and picking.
Why the price fell in 2022
In October 2022, the coordinator of Agexport’s cardamom committee told Prensa Libre that exports had risen in volume that year but fallen in value because international prices dropped, and he attributed that to supply from India, which he said is the largest producer. The committee’s president, Jorge Mario del Cid, said the 2021-2022 harvest produced 16,000 tonnes more than the one before. The same article attributes to an Agexport executive, without repeating his name, the view that many growers were encouraged by the high prices of 2020 and planted more.
The sources disagree on who produces the most. Agexport’s sector site says “Guatemala es el principal productor mundial de cardamomo y número uno en exportación” (Guatemala is the world’s leading cardamom producer and number one in exports); in the 2022 article, the coordinator of the same association’s cardamom committee said Guatemala is not the largest producer and that India is. The 2022 figures do not match either: Agexport’s site gives more than US$450 million exported, and Banguat’s series records US$408,775,001.
Where it is grown
Agexport lists five producing departments: Alta Verapaz, Baja Verapaz, Quiché, Huehuetenango and Izabal. See Alta Verapaz and the cost of living in Cobán.
Related
- Food prices in Guatemala: MAGA wholesale quotes for La Terminal and CENMA.
- Coffee price: the ICE coffee contract and the Other Milds differential for coffee, another Guatemalan export crop.
- Today’s exchange rate, to convert dollars to quetzales.
- Canasta básica.
Sources: Banco de Guatemala, export-by-product tables (monthly 2026, annual 1994-2025) and volume of selected agricultural products 1994-2025, downloaded 25 September 2026; Prensa Libre, 6 October 2022; El Periódico, 21 October 2021, via MONEC; Agexport sector site (page modified 24 July 2023).
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the price of cardamom in Guatemala today?
There is no official daily farm-gate price for cardamom in Guatemala. What the Banco de Guatemala publishes is the value of what is exported: from January to July 2026, cardamom exports totalled US$351,036,179 (preliminary figures, in the monthly file updated on 26 August 2026). Prices paid at the farm are reported by the press and growers’ groups, and the most recent we have is from October 2022.
How much is a quintal of exported cardamom worth?
Dividing Banguat’s annual export value by the volume exported gives about US$1,186 per quintal for 2025, against US$788 in 2024 and US$316 in 2023. This is our calculation from Banguat figures, not a published price, and it is not what the grower receives: it is an average of the customs-declared (FOB) value of everything exported that year.
How much cardamom did Guatemala export in 2025?
According to the Banco de Guatemala (preliminary figures), 0.37 million quintals with an FOB value of US$433,950,371. That is the lowest annual volume in the series since 2001, when 0.33 million quintals were exported.
What is the price of cardamom per kg?
Banguat publishes volume in quintals, not kilos. The most recent per-kilo price we have is the international price an Agexport cardamom committee coordinator gave Prensa Libre on 6 October 2022: between US$8 and US$11 per kilo, against up to US$22 per kilo the year before.
Why did the price of cardamom fall?
The fall the press reported was in 2022. In October that year, leaders of Agexport’s cardamom committee told Prensa Libre that international prices fell because of larger output in Guatemala and India. Banguat’s figures show the same thing: in 2022 and 2023 Guatemala exported more than 1.1 million quintals a year and the value per exported quintal dropped to about US$350 and US$316. In 2024 and 2025 volume fell and the value per quintal rose.
What do growers get per pound of fresh (uva) cardamom?
The most recent figure we have is from Prensa Libre, 6 October 2022: at the start of that harvest, growers in Ixcán received between Q2.50 and Q2.75 per pound of cardamom en uva (fresh), against Q4 to Q6 in 2021 and Q10 to Q15 in 2020. We have no published farm-gate price for 2025 or 2026.
How many quintals of fresh cardamom make one quintal of dried (pergamino)?
5.25 quintals of cardamom en uva for each quintal en pergamino, according to Irineo Tomás of the Asociación de Cardamomeros Cuna del Oro Verde de Guatemala, quoted by Prensa Libre in October 2022.
