Forum chairman Sanjay Mariwala said the association was striving hard to corner 25 per cent share of the world demand by 2000. However, a major cause for concern in achieving the target was the dip in the physical availability of spices, he said.

He said compared with 1996-97, the tonnage availability of spices for exports registered a declined by three per cent in 1997-98. However, exports increased by over 10 per cent in value terms, following the higher unit value realisation.

He said the actual increase in exports in value terms had been a recent phenomenon with the prices shooting up over the last two years.

"The value growth achieved last year was mainly due to higher unit valuerealisation for pepper and spice oleoresins."

However, he cautioned that the exporters' plan for 25 per cent market share might go awry, following the severe competition from other countries and the scarcity in the availability in key spices like pepper and chilies. Compared with last year, there has been a 20 to 30 per cent dip in the supply of pepper alone. "There has been an estimated 20,000 to 25,000 tonne pepper stocked by the growers," he said, adding that this was leading to a flare up in the prices in the domestic market.

He said following higher domestic prices, exporters were finding it difficult to sell the commodity in the international market. "Buyers are turning away from India as the prices of pepper from Indonesia and Brazil are lower than the Indian ones", he said.

He said the gravity of the situation was best illustrated by the fact that the total quantity exported during the April-May 1998 was lower by 33 per cent compared with the same period last year. In value terms, the declinewas around two per cent during the same period, he added.

Chilies had low exportable surplus and the increasing competition from countries like China and Pakistan were the major reason for the decline in its exports. Nearly 90 per cent of the total chilies produced in the country was used for domestic consumption leaving precious little exportable surplus. The agriculture ministry, which has the mandate for developing the crop output, was doing precious little to improve the crop availability. "The inter-departmental wrangle between the agriculture and commerce ministries is leading to a virtual halt in developmental works," he said.

To top it all, chilies available from countries like China and Pakistan were considered better quality than Indian product by the international buyers. This was because the chillies from China and Pakistan had little or no pesticide residue and Indian chilies had a higher percentage of pesticide residue, he added. Exporters were also facing problems on account of lowerpremium for Special Import Licence, irrational cess system and non-availability of promised concessional export credit.