Good performance by chilli and pepper helped Indian spices exports to achieve record increase in value and volume for the first nine months of the current financial year.
India exported 3, 18,635 tonne of spices valued at Rs 3,155.20 crore ($781.07 million) in the first nine months of 2007-08 as against 2, 68,120 tonne valued at Rs 2,575.08 crore ($564.61 million) in the corresponding period of 2006-07. The achievement is higher by 38% in dollar terms and 19% in volume. In rupee terms, the growth is 23%.
Chilli exports have exceeded the target set for the item, both in terms of quantity and value. During the period, India exported 1,45,500 tonne of chilli valued at Rs 785.37 crore as against 95,100 tonne valued at Rs 499.25 crore of last year.
The export of chilli accounts for 46% in terms of quantity and 25% in terms of value of the total export of spices from India.
During April-December 2007-08, India exported 27,000 tonne of pepper valued at Rs 391.63 crore, which is higher by 24% in quantity and 77% in value as compared to the last year’s achievement of 21,780 tonne valued at Rs 221.82 crore.
Coriander, fennel, fenugreek and other miscellaneous spices performed better than last year. Value added spice products like curry powder, spice oils and oleoresins and mint products have done better as compared to last year.
Performance of some of the items like cardamom, ginger, turmeric, cumin, celery, garlic, vanilla and nutmeg & mace fell short of last year’s performance.