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Spices export hits an all-time high

KOCHI: During the first ten months of the financial year 2007-08, export earnings from spices in dollar terms surpassed the last year’s total export performance of $792.95 million and reached an all-time high of $864.95 million.

The export of spices from India during April-January 2007-08 was 3,49,775 tonnes valued at Rs. 3,485.48 crore ($ 864.95 million) as against 2,92,185 tonnes valued at Rs. 2850.45 crore ($626.71 million) exported during the same period last year, says an official communication here.

Compared to the export performance of April-January 2006-07, the achievement during the year is higher by 20 per cent in volume and 22 per cent in terms of rupee value. In dollar terms of value, the growth is 38 per cent. Against the target of 3,80,000 tonnes valued Rs. 3,600 crore ($875 million) fixed for the year, 99 per cent of the dollar value (97 per cent in rupee value) and 92 per cent of the volume have been achieved during the first ten months of the current financial year. Export chilli and mint products have already exceeded the target both in terms of volume and value. During the period, export of coriander and cumin exceeded the target in value terms and vanilla in volume terms.

Spices like pepper, chilli, cardamom (large), coriander, fennel, fenugreek, vanilla and other miscellaneous spices performed better than last year. Value-added spice products like curry powder, spice oils and oleoresins, and mint products also did better compared to last year. Performance of some of the items like cardamom (small), ginger, turmeric, cumin, celery, garlic and nutmeg & mace fell short of last year’s performance.

During April-January 2007-08, the export of pepper from India was 29,300 tonnes valued Rs. 427.63 crore, which is higher by 21 per cent in quantity and 71 per cent in value compared to last year’s achievement of 24,160 tonnes valued Rs. 250.24 crore.

The average f.o.b. unit value increased to Rs. 145.95 per kg from Rs. 103.58 per kg of last year. During the period, Indian pepper became more competitive in the international market compared to other major producing countries like Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia. The major buyers of Indian pepper are the U.S. followed by the U.K. Italy, Germany and Canada.

During the first ten months of the current financial year, the export of chilli from India exceeded last years total export performance of chilli and reached an all-time high, both in terms of quantity and value.

During the period, India exported 1,57,500 tonnes of chilli valued at Rs. 848.37 crore, against 104,885 tonnes valued Rs. 557.69 crore exported last year. Malaysia is the largest buyer of Indian chilli, followed by other traditional buyers like Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and the U.S.

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