Trade Articles

India's spice sector is zooming at great pace. During the time period of April-June 2008, the export of various spices and spice products have shown a remarkable increase of 23% both in terms of their quantity and value. India is producing more than 4 million tonnes of spice and is exporting around 180 spice products in over 150 nations. The Indian Spice Sector has registered the rise by 26% in terms of dollar value. Formed in 1987, The Spice Board is the flagship department working under the rein of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India for encouraging the spices export. In spite of the rupee appreciation and the unsteady market growth, India has regained its international stature by earning more than Rs 213.30 crore from pepper exports in 2007-08. First time the nation has successfully earned foreign exchange of Rs 4435.50 crore by the export of 4,444,250 tonnes spice export during the last year financial year as compared to Rs 3575.75 crore of revenue earned in 2006-07 with the export of 3,73,750 tones spices.

Due to the less production of chili in other nations like China, Pakistan, the India's chili exports have reached to the height of 209,000 tonnes during the period of 2007-08. The same rise growth has also been witnessed in the mint export, which has increased by 30% and has reached to 21,110 tonnes. The India's major markets of mint in international arena are China, USA, Singapore and Germany. Between April-June 2008, the increasing trend has been registered in the export of large cardamom, chili, turmeric, coriander, cumin, fenugreek, garlic, other miscellaneous seeds, vanilla, curry powder, spice oils & oleoresins and mint products both in terms of quantity and value earned as against the last year figures of the same period. During the said time period, 7,550 tonnes of pepper was exported. Though the spice is exported to nearly 130 nations but 80% revenue comes from 20 nations. India exports chili to Malaysia which re-exports it to the other nations. Similarly China imports mint products from India and after its processing it re-exports to the other countries. The nation exports around 10 per cent of spice production out of its total 40per cent production. Last year spice export was quite high than the expectations. India has exported around 35,000 tonnes and has earned revenue of Rs 519.50 crore. The board had targeted 30,000 tonnes and Rs 450 crore respectively. The spice export of India is projected to touch the mark of $10 billion by the year 2017. To achieve their set targets of high exports, Mr. V.J. Kurian, chairman of the spice board said that the India will spend around 600 million rupees in developing various organic species like chili, turmeric etc.

India is called the land of spices which are popular in domestic and international arena for their flavor. They are not considered imperative from the food point of view but also offer medicinal advantages. Today, India is engage in the production of wide variety of spices which can be characterized as= Major Spices like cardamoms, chillies, black pepper, mustard, poppy seed, parsley etc. Seed Spices like celery, aniseed, coriander, fennel, aniseed, mustard, tamarind, cassia, curry leaf, asafetida etc. Tree Spices Like cinnamon, nutmeg and mace, clove etc. Herbal Spices like oregano, thyme, marjoram, savory, basil, rosemary, horse radish. The steps are taken in the direction of making India as a hub for spices processing. Initiatives are taken in the direction for setting parks dedicated to the spices in states like Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan. The Indian spice board has started doing farming of the organic turmeric, chili and ginger in the north-east states. The country is aiming to emphasize more on the exporting of non traditional spices like chili, mint etc., which constitute around 50% of the total export. For promoting the Indian spice on global front, the spice board is aiming to set 3 spices promotional centers at Dubai, Chicago and Europe.