The Hindu : Business : Spices exports set to exceed target

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jan 25, 2006

Business

Business

Spices exports set to exceed target

Staff Reporter

Marginal dip in quantity in first nine months

KOCHI: Despite the marginal dip in value and quantity of exports, the Spices Board is hopeful that exports during the current financial year will exceed the target.

During the first nine months of the current financial year, spices exports stood at Rs.1,676 crores ($378.49 millions) on a quantity of 2.44 lakh tonnes. This is a three per cent dip in value terms.

During the first nine months of the last fiscal, spices exports stood at 2.63 lakh tonnes worth Rs.1,728 crores ($381.01 million). This represents a fall of seven per cent in terms of quantity this year.

However, spices exports are already past 98 per cent of the target for the current year in quantity and have achieved 80 per cent of the value target. Spices Board sources said that total exports this year might exceed by about 25 per cent in quantity earning around Rs.2,300 crores.

One of the features of the current year in spices business is the drop in export of chilli. This has been discounted, however, because chilli exports had seen phenomenal rise during the last financial year.

Between April and December last year, chilli exports stood at 86,750 tonnes worth Rs.298 crores. During the first nine months of the last financial year, chilli exports stood at 1.07 lakh tonnes. The figures represent a 19 per cent drop in quantity and 24 per cent drop in value. Chilli exports last fiscal had fetched Rs.394.54 crores.

Pepper exports have shown an upward movement during the first nine months of the year. A total of 12,050 tonnes of pepper worth Rs. 101 crore has been exported this year while during the same period in last fiscal the quantity of pepper exported was 10,490 tonnes worth Rs.90 lakh.

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