Garlic exports nosedive 97% in Nov

Garlic exports from India has declined by over 97 per cent to 35 tonnes in November, 2010 from 1,300 tonnes in corresponding month last year due to high prices and disruption in production.

"Due to high prices of garlic in the domestic market, exports have been impacted," Spices Board Chairman V J Kurien told PTI.

The retail prices of garlic, used for flavouring various dishes and as an important ingredient in Ayurvedic medicines, have risen sharply to Rs 250 a kg in major markets across the country in the month of November from Rs 80 per kg in September.

According to the Spices Board officials, unseasonal rains in major garlic producing regions have disrupted production, thus reducing the supply of fresh garlic and pushing the prices to a high in the domestic market.

As per the information available, India's garlic export stood at 1,215 tonnes in October.

For the April-November period of the current fiscal, shipments of garlic registered a nearly two fold growth at 16,000 tonnes as compared to 8,025 tonnes in the corresponding period last year.

However, industry sources are maintaining that unlike onion, where skyrocketing prices forces government to ban exports, there is no possibility of India imposing any restrictions on its exports.

India had exported spices worth Rs 5,560.5 crore in the 2009-10, up five per cent over the previous fiscal. In volume terms, exports were 5.02 lakh tonnes in the last fiscal.

Kurien had earlier said that India was targeting exports of 5.25 lakh tonnes of spices, valued at Rs 6,000 crore in the current fiscal.