Red Chilli Price Trend in India: Year-wise Area, Production, Export and Guntur Mandi Price Data, What Moves the Price and How to Read It

Official data show a sharp rise and a slow fall. In Guntur, normal-variety dry chilli sold near Rs 10,100 to 13,100 per quintal in September to December 2021 and near Rs 22,900 to 24,300 in September to December 2022 (ANGRAU). From June 2023 to May 2024 the Guntur average was Rs 18,610 per quintal for normal varieties, and the monthly price slid from Rs 20,571 to Rs 13,262. In 2025-26 the Andhra Pradesh yearly average was Rs 15,240, from Rs 11,779 in July 2025 to Rs 19,321 in March 2026. India grew 24.6 lakh tonnes in 2025-26 (advance estimate, Spices Board) and exported 6.84 lakh tonnes worth Rs 10,396 crore. Chilli has no MSP, so the market sets the price. Always check today's rate on Agmarknet or e-NAM.

Prices rose steeply from 2021 to 2022, stayed high through much of 2023, then eased in 2024 and fell lower in 2025 before recovering in early 2026. This comes from three ANGRAU tables, not from one long series. The same months are not always available, so use the pattern, not a straight line.

Here is what the official tables show, in the order they were published. In Guntur, the biggest chilli market yard, normal-variety dry chilli sold at Rs 10,131 to 13,131 per quintal in September to December 2021 (ANGRAU 2021 outlook). The same four months of 2022 were Rs 22,855 to 24,313 (ANGRAU 2022 outlook). For June 2023 to May 2024 the normal-variety average was Rs 18,610 (ANGRAU 2023-24 outlook). For June 2025 to May 2026 the Andhra Pradesh average was Rs 15,240 (ANGRAU 2025-26 outlook).

One caution. The 2025-26 table uses Agmarknet data for Andhra Pradesh as a whole, while the earlier tables use Guntur market committee data split into normal and special varieties. They measure slightly different things. A farmer should compare each table with itself (July against March) rather than compare the 2023 figure to the 2025 figure to the last rupee.

A quintal is 100 kg. Rs 15,240 per quintal is Rs 152.40 per kg of dry chilli at the mandi. That is a wholesale yard rate for dry pods, not the shop price of chilli powder.

India grew 24.6 lakh tonnes of dry chilli on 7.86 lakh hectares in 2025-26 (advance estimate), the Spices Board says. The best year in its table is 2023-24, at 29.1 lakh tonnes from 9.66 lakh hectares. The worst recent year was 2021-22, when 8.82 lakh hectares gave only 18.4 lakh tonnes.

Source: Spices Board of India, spice-wise area and production, 2018-19 to 2022-23 and 2021-22 to 2025-26. The 2022-23 row is the later figure; the earlier third advance estimate was 844,303 hectares and 2,278,550 tonnes, so these tables get revised. The Board marks figures from 2020-21 onward as subject to revision.

Look at 2021-22 against 2022-23. Area was almost the same (882,000 and 851,607 hectares), but production jumped from 1.84 million tonnes to 2.78 million tonnes. Yield per hectare, which is our division of production by area, went from 2,082 kg to 3,267 kg. When yield falls, the crop is short, and prices usually react a few months later. When yield recovers, the crop is large.

Andhra Pradesh grows the most. In the 2025-26 second advance estimate quoted by ANGRAU, Andhra Pradesh produced 8.39 lakh tonnes (39.34 percent of the national figure used in that table), followed by Telangana at 3.37 lakh tonnes, Madhya Pradesh at 3.14 lakh tonnes and Karnataka at 2.21 lakh tonnes.

Source: ANGRAU Chilli Outlook 2025-26, Table 2, quoting second advance estimates from the Department of Agriculture. This all-India total (21.32 lakh tonnes) is lower than the Spices Board advance estimate in the table above (24.64 lakh tonnes). They are two official estimates made at different times, so both are shown and they are not merged. Use either to see the direction and the state shares, not the last digit.

Yield tells its own story. Andhra Pradesh and Telangana get 55 to 60 quintals per hectare in this table, while Karnataka gets 17.6 and Odisha 8.0. The ANGRAU report says that raising yields in the low-yield states could add output without adding area.

Inside Andhra Pradesh, the Guntur district page says the district has 18,400 hectares under chilli and that the Guntur Agricultural Market Yard, about 5 km from the town centre, is "Asia's biggest Chilli market yard" (Guntur District, Government of Andhra Pradesh). The same page says chilli trade at the yard has run through e-NAM since 9 October 2017.

Normal-variety dry chilli started 2022 at Rs 13,444 per quintal in January, reached Rs 24,313 in November and ended the year at Rs 22,855. Special varieties went from Rs 14,059 to a peak of Rs 25,624 in October. The price rose in nearly every month from May onward.

Source: ANGRAU Chilli Outlook, January to December 2022, average monthly prices from Andhra Pradesh market committees. The report's seasonal index puts the 2022 price at its lowest in January (74.01 percent of the yearly average) and highest in October (131.04 percent).

Now compare 2022 with the same months of 2021 from the 2021 report. Normal-variety prices in Guntur were Rs 10,457 in September 2021, Rs 10,131 in October, Rs 10,403 in November and Rs 13,131 in December. In 2022 the same four months were Rs 23,227, 23,071, 24,313 and 22,855. By our arithmetic, that is about 2.2 times in September and 1.7 times in December.

The ANGRAU 2021 report also noted that heavy rain in the Karnataka chilli belt might damage 8 to 10 percent of the standing crop, and that virus had hit crops in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. It said buyers were asking for cold storage stocks because they feared quality damage in the new crop. Those are the events that sat just before the 2022 price rise.

The Guntur market committee yearly average for June 2023 to May 2024 was Rs 18,610 per quintal for normal varieties and Rs 20,176 for special varieties. Normal-variety price began at Rs 20,571 in June 2023 and fell to Rs 13,262 in May 2024, as arrivals rose to over 10 lakh quintals in February 2024.

Source: ANGRAU Chilli Outlook, June to May 2023-24, Table 5, data from Guntur AMC. ANGRAU says about 4.4 lakh quintals traded in the yard each month on average, and the heaviest arrivals came in February and March.

Three things stand out. First, the price drifted down as new-crop arrivals built up, from Rs 21,000 in the middle of the year to Rs 13,100 in April. Second, the special varieties lost less: ANGRAU puts the spread of their monthly price around the yearly average at 7.8 percent, against 16.7 percent for normal varieties. Third, ANGRAU says the higher prices came between June and December.

ANGRAU's 2025-26 table, built from Agmarknet data for Andhra Pradesh, shows a price of Rs 11,934 per quintal in June 2025, a low of Rs 11,779 in July 2025 and a high of Rs 19,321 in March 2026. The yearly average was Rs 15,240. The table stops at May 2026.

Source: ANGRAU Chilli Outlook, June to May 2025-26, Table 9 (source given as Agmarknet). Notice that this year behaves differently from 2023-24. In 2023-24 the price fell as arrivals peaked. In 2025-26 the price rose from January and stayed high through May even though arrivals were the largest in March and April. ANGRAU says this suggests that demand, quality, storage, processing and export needs, not arrivals alone, shaped the price.

Because the 2025-26 table comes from a different data series than the 2023-24 table, we do not put a percentage on the change between them. What can be said safely is that the July 2025 figure of Rs 11,779 is the lowest monthly price in any of the three monthly tables in this guide.

Four things move chilli prices: crop size and quality, old stock in cold stores, export demand, and the time of year. ANGRAU reports on all four. No single one explains every swing, so a price can fall in a heavy-arrival month in one year and rise in the same month of another.

• Crop size and disease. The Spices Board table shows yield per hectare dropped to about 2,082 kg in 2021-22 and recovered to 3,267 kg in 2022-23. ANGRAU notes that in 2021-22 the crop in Andhra Pradesh was hit by thrips and that virus-affected plants were being uprooted. Guntur supply in 2022 was 593,010 tonnes against 740,970 tonnes a year earlier, down 19.97 percent, as quoted in the report from AgriWatch.
• Area sown. ANGRAU records that Andhra Pradesh chilli sowing stood at 2.02 lakh hectares on 29 December 2021 against 1.7 lakh a year earlier, and 2.22 lakh hectares on 28 December 2022 against 1.84 lakh. More area means a bigger crop if weather and pests allow it.
• Export demand. ANGRAU says chilli exports in 2022 were 26.70 percent lower than a year earlier because premium quality was short and because of the Sri Lanka crisis, lockdowns in China and the Russia-Ukraine war. Export numbers are in the next section.
• Stocks and storage. Buyers asked for cold storage stock in late 2021 because they feared quality loss in the new crop. Chilli is stored dry in cold stores, so old stock can hold the price down or up depending on how much is left when the new crop comes.
• Quality and variety. Special varieties sold at a higher yearly average (Rs 20,176) than normal varieties (Rs 18,610) in 2023-24, and moved less from month to month.

There is a private supply and demand balance sheet for chilli quoted inside the ANGRAU reports. It is left out here because its production figure is far below the Spices Board figure in the table above, and two official numbers should not be mixed with a trade estimate.

There is no fixed low or high month. Arrivals are heaviest from February to April in every ANGRAU table, but the price low was in January in 2022, April in 2023-24 and July in 2025-26. The pattern depends on the year's crop and stocks. Selling plans should use the current year's tables.

Sources: ANGRAU 2022, ANGRAU 2023-24 and ANGRAU 2025-26 seasonal index tables. An index of 100 is the yearly average. The three rows use different data series, so read across a row, not down a column.

A useful rule for a grower: do not assume the harvest-time price is the low point every year. In 2025-26 the price kept climbing from January even with record arrivals. In 2023-24 it kept falling. Watch the monthly arrival and price on the yard, and compare with your own cost.

India exported 6.84 lakh tonnes of chilli worth Rs 10,396 crore in 2025-26, the Spices Board table says. That is 26.6 percent of the USD 4,431 million total for spices, by our division. Export quantity was highest in 2024-25 at 7.16 lakh tonnes. Export value was highest in 2023-24 at Rs 12,492 crore.

Source: Spices Board item-wise export table (DGCI&S and Ministry of Commerce data). Rs crore is the Board's Rs lakh figure divided by 100. Value per kg is value divided by quantity, so it is an average export price that mixes whole chilli, powder and grades, and it is not a mandi price. The PIB also names chilli as the leading spice exported by value in 2023-24, at USD 1,508.94 million (PIB, 1 May 2025).

The export price per kg reads like a price trend of its own. It was Rs 135 to Rs 154 in 2019-20 to 2021-22, jumped to about Rs 202 in 2022-23, peaked near Rs 208 in 2023-24, then fell to about Rs 159 and Rs 152. It broadly follows the direction of the Guntur tables, but it comes from customs data and a mix of products, so it is only a rough guide.

The ANGRAU 2025-26 report lists the main buyers by quantity as China (210.99 thousand tonnes), Bangladesh (106.40), the UAE (62.20), Thailand (58.77), Sri Lanka (45.81), the USA (37.31), Indonesia (36.03) and Malaysia (22.61), and says China alone was worth Rs 3,171 crore. About 70 percent of production is eaten at home and about 30 percent exported, it adds. If you plan to ship chilli yourself, read our spice export business guide, which covers the Board's quality tests for aflatoxin and Sudan dyes in chilli.

Yes. ANGRAU reports separate "normal" and "special" variety prices, and special varieties averaged Rs 20,176 per quintal against Rs 18,610 in 2023-24. The report does not list which varieties are special, so ask the yard which grade your lot falls in. Exporters prefer Teja, Byadgi, DD Best, 341, 273 and 334.

Source: Spices Board of India, Chilli varieties page. The page is an older reference and does not give prices. ASTA colour is a lab measure of redness, and capsaicin is the heat compound. Use the table to see why the market splits chilli into colour types and heat types, not to rank which is "best".

The Guntur district page says about 60 percent of the area there is under hybrids, including Teja, Byadagi and US-341, and about 40 percent under open-pollinated types such as LCA-341 and 273. It also says Guntur Sannam (S4 type) was registered as a Geographical Indication in 2009. If a variety you like is disease-prone, the price benefit will not help. Our guide to leaf-curl and anthracnose tolerant chilli varieties lists the ICAR and state-university releases and what each is rated for.

It depends on yield and cost more than on the quintal rate alone. ANGRAU surveys in Andhra Pradesh found a total cost of Rs 2,95,718 per hectare in 2023-24 and Rs 4,20,634 in 2025-26. Net returns were Rs 31,635 per hectare in the first season and Rs 1,62,278 in the second.

Source: ANGRAU 2023-24, Table 4, and ANGRAU 2025-26, Table 8 (primary survey data). These are two different surveys of different farmers, so the jump in yield from 20.48 to 34.89 quintals does not mean every farmer improved. The honest reading is this: at about Rs 16,000 a quintal, a farmer with 20 quintals a hectare barely cleared cost in 2023-24, while one with 35 quintals did well in 2025-26.

The report also splits cost in 2023-24: labour was 33.85 percent and material 41.03 percent of total cost, and in 2025-26 material was Rs 1,67,711 and labour Rs 1,41,761. Labour and material make up most of the bill, so these are the lines to watch. Check your own yield and cost per quintal first, then decide whether a given mandi price is worth selling at.

Compare today's mandi price with your cost per quintal, then look at arrivals and the last two months' direction. If the price is above your cost and rising, hold the part you can store dry. If it is falling while arrivals climb, sell what you cannot store. This is a method, not advice for a particular week.

1. Find your cost per quintal. Divide your total cost per acre by your yield per acre. The tables above give an Andhra Pradesh example only.
2. Read today's price on two sources. Look at the Guntur or nearest yard on Agmarknet and e-NAM, and ask at the yard about the grade.
3. Check the arrival trend. If daily arrivals are rising fast, prices in the next few weeks have often come under pressure (2023-24), but not always (2025-26).
4. Dry and grade properly. ANGRAU separates special varieties from normal ones, and those held their price better in 2023-24. Clean, evenly dried pods fetch a better grade.
5. Split the lot. Sell part at harvest for cash and keep part for later if you have dry, safe storage, instead of one decision for the whole crop.

Storage costs money, and the Guntur district page lists subsidy for cold storage units of up to Rs 140 lakh per unit of 5,000 tonnes capacity and for cold rooms up to Rs 9.375 lakh, for those building them. If you need cash while you hold stock, our Kisan Credit Card guide says the limit includes an allowance for post-harvest costs such as drying, storage and transport. It also says small and marginal farmers can get the interest subvention for up to six months after harvest on loans against negotiable warehouse receipts from WDRA-accredited warehouses. Ask the warehouse whether dried chilli is accepted.

Another route is selling together. Our SHG vs FPO guide says an FPO aggregates, grades and markets members' produce as a business, which an SHG is not built to do. If a buyer offers a price before sowing, read our contract farming guide first. It says a fixed price is set at the start of the season and the sponsor must pay it if the market falls, but the farmer gives up any gain if the market rises.

No. Our guide to mandi prices below MSP lists the crops covered by support prices, and chilli is not among them. The same page names the Market Intervention Scheme only for perishable crops with no MSP, such as tomato, onion and potato. For chilli, the open market sets the price.

That is why the price swings in the tables above are so wide. A grower cannot count on a government floor. The mandi price below MSP guide explains e-NAM, warehouse receipt loans and the other options the page lists, which a chilli farmer can still use even without an MSP. The Spices Board schemes guide (Spices Board schemes and subsidies) says chilli is not named in any of its rate tables, but the drying and equipment support may apply, so check with the Board.

Prices differ by yard, grade and day, so no single state price is right. The tables above give Guntur and Andhra Pradesh figures for fixed months. For Kerala or any other state, open Agmarknet or e-NAM and look at the nearest yard. This guide did not open a Kerala mandi price, so it prints none.

Kerala is not among the ten states in the 2025-26 production table. Warangal, in Telangana, is the other dry chilli yard that ANGRAU tracks next to Guntur in its arrival tables.

A mandi price is quoted per quintal (100 kg) for dry chilli, as modal, minimum or maximum. The modal price is the one most deals were done at. Divide by 100 to get the price per kg. Guntur arrivals are also counted in bags of 45 kg, as ANGRAU notes.

Per kg and per bag values are our arithmetic. Where to look up a fresh price: Agmarknet is the Government of India portal for daily mandi arrivals and prices, and e-NAM shows live price information and an Agmarknet price dashboard in its menu. Always note the date, the market, the variety or grade and whether the figure is modal, minimum or maximum. A forwarded image with no date is not a price.

ANGRAU's market intelligence centre publishes a price range before each marketing season. For Kharif 2026 marketing, it forecasts Rs 18,519 to 22,156 per quintal for normal chilli and Rs 19,660 to 24,020 for special chilli. The report states that forecasts assume normal weather and market conditions.

A check against the data we have: the Rabi 2021-22 forecast for normal chilli was Rs 13,500 to 15,000, and actual monthly normal prices in January and February 2022 were Rs 13,444 and Rs 14,611, just below the range in January and inside it in February, while March was Rs 16,750, above it. We did not open actual prices for the other seasons, so we do not rate those forecasts. The latest actual table opened stops at May 2026, so no actual price for the Kharif 2026 marketing season is printed here.

Treat a forecast as a planning range. It is made from past data by economic models, ANGRAU says, and a pest outbreak, a rain spell or a change in export demand can break it.

Quality and quantity both decide the final rate. ANGRAU tied the weak 2021-22 crop to thrips and virus, and special grades held their price better in 2023-24. A clean, well-grown crop gives you more quintals and a better grade. Protect the crop early, from the first 20 days after transplanting.

Our guides on chilli disease management, which covers anthracnose, damping off, wilt, powdery mildew and the leaf curl virus complex, and on leaf-curl tolerant varieties cover the field side. The leaf curl page says no spray cures an infected plant and that control relies on virus-free seedlings, early removal, weed control and whitefly management.

The site also carries chilli products, each tied by its page to a crop stage after transplanting. The chilli crop products collection lists the full range. For the first 20 days, the chilli early growth combo page lists Fantasy (Fipronil 5% SC) with a seaweed extract for early sucking pests. For days 11 to 20, the chilli pest protection combo page lists Imida (Imidacloprid 30.5% SC) with Bhannat, and the complete protection combo page lists Chakrawarti, Bhannat and an organic fungicide.

Later in the crop, the chilli mites control combo page, for 40 to 60 days after transplanting, lists Ozil (Spiromesifen 22.9% SC) for red spider mite, chilli yellow mite and whiteflies, an Anti Virus product aimed at chilli leaf curl virus, and Nutritious (Triacontanol 0.1% EW). The chilli thrips control combo page, for 50 to 60 days, lists Spino 45 (Spinosad 45% SC) for thrips with Anti Virus and Pro Grow. After the first picking, the post picking growth combo page lists Nutritious, a seaweed extract and a mix of micronutrients to help the plant recover for a second flush.

These are seller descriptions, not trial data, and this post prints no dose. Follow the label and the advice of your local agriculture officer.

Conclusion

The red chilli price trend in India is not a straight line. Guntur prices roughly doubled between late 2021 and late 2022, stayed high through much of 2023, slid through the 2023-24 season as arrivals built up, and in 2025-26 ran from Rs 11,779 in July 2025 to Rs 19,321 in March 2026. Behind this sit crop size, disease, stocks and export demand. Use the data here to plan, check today's rate on Agmarknet or e-NAM, work out your own cost per quintal, and protect the crop early. No MSP backs chilli, so a farmer's best tools are good records, good grade and a split-sale plan.