The Hindu Business Line : Plea to remove cap on Lankan pepper imports

Kochi, July 30 Pepper exporters in Sri Lanka have urged the Indian Government to remove the cap it placed in December 2006 restricting exports of pepper under the Indo-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement (ISFTA) from the Island neighbour to 2,500 tonnes.

“Before the introduction of this cap, pepper was freely imported into India under the ISFTA since 2003 with no quantitative restrictions,” they said. A report quoting them said that Sri Lanka decided not to export any pepper under ISFTA in 2007 while the Department of Commerce had discussions with their counterpart ever since the introduction of the cap with a view to having the status quo restored, but without any success.

Restoring status quo

“Now with both countries looking at introducing CEPA, (Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement) taking one step forward after ISFTA, it is hoped that India would consider restoring the status quo and allowing free imports in keeping with the spirit of the agreement,” an exporter was quoted as saying.

Sri Lanka had exported 6,853 tonnes of black pepper during January-September 2005, before the introduction of the cap. Low productivity and high wage structure makes Indian farmers’ cost of production high compared to other producing countries, hence, the need to import, they said.

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