'2010 will witness new additions for Spices Board'

The current year will witness new additions in processing capacities, quality evaluation facilities and enhancements in value addition for the Spices Board, its chairman V J Kurien said today.

Speaking to reporters here, he said the board's new venture "Spice Parks" for processing was coming up in Idukki district in Kerala and in Guntur district in Andhra Pradesh.

A Spice park has already come up in Chhindwara (Madhya Pradesh) and new ones are slated to come up in Jodhpur in Rajasthan, Ahmedabad (Gujarat) and Sivaganga (Tamil Nadu) he said.

A spices Evaluation laboratory of International standards would also be opened in India's premier chilli producing and marketing district of Guntur, he said, adding more labs in Delhi, Chennai, Tuticorin, Kandla and Kolkata will be opened in future.

The Board's programme to enhance production and productivity in cardamom and black pepper will also be given a further fillip during the year, Kurien said.

He said the quantity of spices exports has shown a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of six per cent and value realised a CAGR of 19 per cent in rupee terms.

In dollar terms,the growth rate was six per cent last year, he said.

Pointing out that India occupies a prominent position in the world spice trade, he said the country has a 44 per cent share in quantity and 36 per cent in value of the estimated 8.50 lakh tonnes in world trade of spices, valued at $2,200 million.