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G.K. Nair

Kochi , Sept. 2

SPICES export continued to declinewith the July figures showing a drop of 1,157 tonnes in volume and Rs 4.58 crore in value, taking the total exports during April-July 2003 to 69,896 tonnes valued at Rs 555.03 crore as against 83,511 tonnes worth Rs 584.44 crore in the corresponding period last fiscal.

While pepper showed some improvement in July with the exports touching 1,500 tonnes valued at Rs 12.75 crore as against 1,100 tonnes worth Rs 9.35 crore in Jul 2002, most of the other produce declined, according to Spices Board sources. Competition from other countries coupled with high domestic prices is also pointed out as one of the reasons. The drop in chilli exports in July was by 1,000 tonnes to 5,500 tonnes from 6,500 tonnes in the same month in 2002.

The detection of illegal colorants by some of the importing countries might also be a reason for the drop, Mr S. Kannan, Director, Marketing, Spices Board, told Business Line. There were also reports of the presence of this colorant `Sudan 1' in some of the consignments to the Gulf markets. However, the Spices Board had already taken it up with the Gulf Cooperation Council countries and it had been asked to submit to the Board details about the consignments, the exporters etc., for verifying the correctness of the reports and to take appropriate action, he said. In a bid to contain the unlawful activities of the exporters, the Board had suspended the licence of two major pepper exporters and three chilli exporters.

However, Mr Kannan said, the drop in value was marginal in July while in terms of volume there was over 15 per cent fall.

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