Aggressive Marketing Key To Spice Exports: Officials

The country needs to add zest to its marketing and improve the quality of its products to tap consumer preferences and boost exports, industry officials said.

Mushrooming ethnic eateries worldwide and expansion of the noodles market in Asia have made Indian spices a hot commodity. But consumers are getting more demanding and competition is heating up. "With the changing market trends, consumer preferences and the emergence of supermarkets, the focal point of exports has shifted towards value-added products," Spices Board Chairman V Jayashankar said recently. India is home to more than 50 varieties of spices and is the world's largest producer and exporter, meeting 20 percent of the world's spice needs.

Pepper fetches the largest export earnings. The country exports about eight percent of total annual output, either in the spices' original form or after processing them to add value.

Spice exports in 1996/97 (April-March) reached an all-time high of 219,400 tonnes valued at Rs 11.8 billion compared with 202,197 tonnes in 1995/96 valued at Rs 7.9 billion. The Spices Board estimates exports will reach 300,000 tonnes by the turn of the century.India exported 82,035 tonnes of spices between April and July 1997 compared with 81,188 tonnes in the same period in 1996.

N E Cheriyan Kunju, a senior official of the Spices Board, said that while exports of black pepper and value-added items had increased in 1996/97, India had lost heavily to Guatemala on cardamom.

He said, Guatemala had outpriced India in the export market since its cost of production was low. It has captured the Gulf market, where cardamom is used in coffee. "They have started undercutting us in the international market," he said. "When we offer at $10 per kilo, they offer at $6 per kilo." Cheriyan said India was focusing on other markets like Japan, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, the United States and Britain.

Exports in 1996/97 fell to 240 tonnes from 500 tonnes in 1995/96. "We should strive to send out cardamom to overseas markets by regaining the lost foothold," said R. D. Vadera, president of theUpasi.