Value addition can boost spice exports
Commerce ministry chants the mantra of value addition to boost spice exports in India.
By Arun Iyer, TNN |
BANGALORE: Value addition is the mantra that the Union commerce ministry is chanting when it comes to boosting spice exports from India. Union minister of state for commerce Jairam Ramesh said: "The bulk of our spices exports is in the form of culinary products. Value-addition is a must as we leverage our diverse spices export basket." In 2006-07, spices exports brought in $800 million in forex earnings.
He said there were plans to set up a spices park in Kerala's Idukki district to focus on value-addition. "We have already roped in some of the biggest names in the private sector like the Eastern group to invest in these facilities," he said.
Mr Ramesh has also mooted setting up of a centre for value-addition in spices in association with the Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI). This institute, he continued, would focus on spices like ginger. Mysore-based CFTRI has filed 1,075 patents, of which 300 have been filed overseas.
CFTRI director V Prakash said the level of value-addition was an abysmal 8% (during the Tenth Plan period), a figure which could nearly be doubled to 14% by the end of the Eleventh Plan.
Similarly there are plans to engage the Central Institute for Medicinal & Aromatic Plants (CIMAP), Lucknow to help promote a mint park in Uttar Pradesh. Uttar Pradesh is the biggest producer of mentha (mint). Mint accounts for 25% of India’s total spices exports.
The bulk of the mint grown in India is exported to China which then re-exports it to markets like the US and Europe. Chillies, another major spice export from India, accounts for 22% of the export in value terms.
He said there were plans to set up a spices park in Kerala's Idukki district to focus on value-addition. "We have already roped in some of the biggest names in the private sector like the Eastern group to invest in these facilities," he said.
Mr Ramesh has also mooted setting up of a centre for value-addition in spices in association with the Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI). This institute, he continued, would focus on spices like ginger. Mysore-based CFTRI has filed 1,075 patents, of which 300 have been filed overseas.
CFTRI director V Prakash said the level of value-addition was an abysmal 8% (during the Tenth Plan period), a figure which could nearly be doubled to 14% by the end of the Eleventh Plan.
Similarly there are plans to engage the Central Institute for Medicinal & Aromatic Plants (CIMAP), Lucknow to help promote a mint park in Uttar Pradesh. Uttar Pradesh is the biggest producer of mentha (mint). Mint accounts for 25% of India’s total spices exports.
The bulk of the mint grown in India is exported to China which then re-exports it to markets like the US and Europe. Chillies, another major spice export from India, accounts for 22% of the export in value terms.
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