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Bright scope to export organic spices

P. S. Sundar

WITH the lifestyle and food habits in Europe and the US showing a definite tilt towards natural and organic food products, there is a bright scope for the Indian spice exporters to ship organic spices to these lucrative markets.

The Spices Board utilised the platform of the Health Ingredients Europe 2000 exhibition and conference held in Frankfurt last week to convey the message to the importers all over the world that India could supply a number of organic spices.

A trend has set in of late whereby the importers ask for a clarification if the spice is organic or non-organic. This term `non-organic' has now come to refer to the traditional spices.

At the Frankfurt meet, Mrs M. R. Usha, Deputy Director of Spices Board, who led a delegation of exporters, launched some products such as organic dehydrated rosemary, thyme, oregano and scented basil clove as also the extracts of organic rosemary, thyme and oregano. She said these products were intensively tested at the Regional Research Laboratory in Thiruvananthapuram and claimed that they carried a high level of medicinal and culinary use.

``We have got confirmed orders for such products in Europe and that is why we are launching them here now. These are manufactured using the latest technologies. They retain their colour and have a high oil content. They are better than the ones available in the market from other sources. Also, our products are cheaper than all others'', she told Business Line.

A number of importers, who visited the Spices Board stall, asked for organic herbs and spices. It is clear that the importers are convinced that India has the capacity to supply quality organic spices.

``There has been a visible change in the order of demand for our products this time. The highest enquiry was for organic herbs, followed by organic spices, dehydrated products, spice oils and oleoresins and only the last, for the non-organic wholesome sp ices'', Mrs Usha said.

Ms Usha told the importers that India could supply a wide variety of such spices such as organic black and white pepper, cardamom, nutmeg, clove, mace, ginger, turmeric, vanilla and seed spices in large volume. ``But, what could greatly help is the recei pt of firm orders in advance so that the farmers could plan their production strategy and deliver the organic spices on time'', she said.

Mrs Usha said the Board would attach necessary importance to introducing a new logo for organic spices and also help in rapid certification if needed be through the international agencies.

The Spices Board is working closely with the Germany-based International Federation of Organic Agricultural Movement (IFOAM) to train inspectors for the certification process. Also, it has utilised the expertise of IFOAM in preparing a detailed document on the production of organic spices.

``Already, most organic products fetch double the normal prices. In some cases like vanilla which have a great culinary and medicinal usage, we have a strong demand, but supplies do not match. Also, right now, no one is known to produce organic chilli, w hile the volume of organic turmeric available is low. There is a ready order for organic pepper'', said Mr N. Venkatesh, a Chennai-based exporter of spices and herbs who conducted a survey on food preferences in Europe and confirmed the tilt towards orga nic products.

Mr. Tsewang Topden, Consulate General of India in Frankfurt, said a rising trend was visible in India's export of spices to Germany. ``In the first five months of 2000, around two million kg of spices worth Deutsche Mark (DM) 14 million were exported to Germany from India, against 1.5 mkg worth DM 8 million last year'', he said.

``The forecast is that between now and 2006, there would be a five-fold increase in the organic food market all over the world. That is why we devoted a special pavilion for organic products with a participation of 50 exporters at the fair. Also, there w as a special session on organic products at the conference held in tandem'', said Mr Gordon Payne, General Manager of Miller Freeman, organisers of the meet.