India’s share in international seasoning market a paltry 0.7% regardless of being world’s largest producer: WSO

 Solely 48% of India’s spice exports have been valued-added merchandise whereas the remaining bulk hit the market as culinary entire spices, says Ramkumar Menon.
| Photograph Credit score: The Hindu

No matter being the biggest producer and exporter of numerous forms of spices on the planet, India’s share within the international seasoning market, pegged at $14 billion in 2024, is simply a paltry 0.7%, towards China’s 12% and U.S.A.’s 11%, stated Ramkumar Menon, chairman, the World Spice Organisation (WSO).

India presently exports 1.5 million tonne of spices of every kind value $4.5 billion, commanding 1 / 4 of the worldwide spice market valued at $20 billion.

Mr. Menon stated presently solely 48% of India’s spice exports have been valued-added merchandise whereas the remaining bulk hits the markets as culinary entire spices. To attain the Spices Board of India’s export goal of $10 billion by 2030, the nation’s share in value-added spices ought to rise as much as 70%, he opined.

‘’Seasoning is a big market. Regardless of India being the biggest producer and exporter of spices ,our present share in seasoning is de facto low, and we’ve got an enormous alternative to develop in this section,’‘ he stated.

Mr. Menon additional stated, it was additionally important for the Indian spice sector to discover the nutraceutical and pharmaceutical worth of spices in a giant approach.

‘’We must always discover the nutraceutical and pharmaceutical scope of our spices in a significant approach. That is one other approach of worth including by discovering newer methods of helpful consumption for our spices. A number of spices are already being utilized by Ayurveda and different faculties of medication,’‘ he identified.

In accordance with Mr. Menon, some 85% of the spices grown in India are consumed domestically. Though India leads the world in spice manufacturing, Vietnam, Indonesia, Brazil and China are additionally energetic gamers within the international spice markets. Africa entered spice manufacturing lately.

On the significance of accelerating spice manufacturing throughout the nation, he noticed that, apart from the normal spice-growing States within the nation, the North Japanese area, Odisha and Jharkhand have been rising as sizable producers of varied spices.

‘’India has 15 completely different agro-climatic zones and this helps us develop all kinds of spices, nearly in all states,’‘ he stated.

Nevertheless, he stated the nation presently doesn’t develop sufficient spices for exports. “Export potentialities are enormous. To money in on this, we’ve got to extend our manufacturing to begin with. We even have to seek out methods to convey down value of manufacturing and enhance concentrate on high quality and scale our share in worth added spices.’‘

In accordance with Mr. Menon, to spice up manufacturing, exports and worth addition, The World Spice Organisation, a platform that unites all stakeholders within the spice trade comprising farmers, processors, lecturers, and end-users, is working carefully with a number of FPOs (farmer producer organisations) to extend security, high quality and sustainability in spice cultivation via coaching farmers on high quality management points and and educating them the significance rising spices utilizing pesticides throughout the stipulated limits. Spice farmers are additionally skilled in built-in pest administration, water administration and hygiene practices round dealing with, processing and packaging.

He additionally emphasised on the necessity for growing high-yielding and climate-resistant forms of spices within the nation, including organisations comparable to Indian Council of Agricultural Analysis and Nationwide Analysis Centre on Seed Spices have been already engaged on these fronts.