Spices add special flavour to Indian exports to China

Chinese investors in India are reaping huge profits by exporting Indian spices like pepper and cumin back home, taking advantage of cheap labour in the country than in China.
Fan Chengliang, 40, a Chinese trader who has established his export business in Hyderabad says that India's pepper and cumin specially from south is becoming popular in China.
"The Indian pepper is spicier than those planted in China, and such products are popular in China's Sichuan and Yunnan provinces, where people like eating spicy food," he told state-run China Daily.
The climate in India helps bring out the distinctive flavour of its spices that are different from those of any other place in the world, he said.

Fan's products are mainly sold to wholesale markets in China, though some Chinese restaurants buy spices directly from his company.
"Besides, I cannot find any other place in the world with such a young workforce and such a vast area of farmland. It's paradise for those in the agricultural business," he said.

Fan pays his five Indian workers about 2,000-3,000 yuan (USD 326-488.5) each a month, which he said is "decent payment" compared to local wages.
"In China, it is impossible to employ excellent workers at such prices," he added.
Fan's company is just part of an increasing number of Chinese businesses riding on growing economic and trade ties between China and India in recent years.

India is currently wooing Chinese investors in the back drop of the last week's visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to India during which Beijing has committed to invest USD 20 billion in two industrial parks besides modernisation of Indian railways.
Bai Yuwen, a Chinese who works for a multinational company, said that India's huge population offers unimaginable potential for her business, which is mainly based on people-to-people exchanges.
"Although the Indians in general are not so rich now, they will definitely create development miracles because they have so many young people," Bai said.
Her Indian colleagues are very diligent since they cherish the job opportunities, Bai said.

Fan, the spice dealer, expected the warming China-India relationship to bring some real benefit for his business.
"The infrastructure in many places of India remains poor and I hope that China's experiences and its capital can be tapped by the Indian government to improve the roads, power grids and railways," he said.