Spice exports in FY11 to cross previous year's exports

Spice exports during 2010-11 fiscal are likely to cross 5.02 lakh tonne on the back of higher shipments of chilli.

"Spice exports in FY11 will cross the previous fiscal's shipments, which stood at 5.02 lakh tonne," sources in Spice Board said.  

Though the shipments of chilli - an important curry ingredient - increased, there was a dip in the export of pepper, the sources added. "This time there were few problems in exports of pepper but the shipments of chilli have increased," they said. 

The total spices exports in FY10 stood at 5,02,750 tonne up 7% from 4,70,520 tonne in FY09, according to the Spice Board data.  

In the 2009-10 fiscal, chilli exports stood at 2,04,000 tonne, while pepper shipment was of the order of 19,750 tonne.  

In the first 11 months of the previous fiscal, India exported 4,71,165 tonne of spices. Spice Board has targeted export earnings from $1.17 billion in 2010 to $3 billion by 2017 and further to $10 billion by 2025.