Are speculators and commodity traders picking it up and starting to fuel a mad rush on Saffron stocks?
I don't know.
From what I gathered in Saffron harvest brings a new gold rush (Independent, November 13, 2010), some farmers and unemployed workers in Spain are finding saffron to be their savior, at last partially.
Pundits and economists talk about the need for college degrees and here out of the blue comes Saffron, ready to wreck all their models.
Another article suggests that Afghan farmers turn from opium's red poppies to saffron's red gold (Deutsche Welle, November 13, 2010). It notes that "over 100,000 flowers are needed to make a kilo a saffron powder."
We're having a saffron meme here.
From battered to saffron queens and kings, the new new economy?
(*illustration from Saffron Page on Wikipedia)