The consortium of pepper traders and growers has urged the Centre to restrict the quantity of pepper that can be imported under the South Asian free trade agreement (SAFTA) from Sri Lanka at concessional duty of 8 per cent at 2500 tonnes.

India earlier this year had imposed a minimum import price of ₹500 per kg on pepper to protect domestic pepper farmers. The Kerala chapter of Indian Pepper and Spices Traders, Growers, Planters Consortium said in a statement that Sri Lanka has circumvented this by buying Vietnam pepper at low prices, adding value and dumping it in India as its own pepper. So any import above 2500 tonnes under SAFTA from Sri Lanka should be charged at 52 per cent at par with other Asian countries, said Kishor Shamji, co-ordinator of the consortium.

Both these agreements were signed when the Sri Lankan production was pegged at 10,000 tonnes. Now it is claimed to have touched 25,000 tonnes, Shamji pointed out.

The pepper extraction industry in India is already importing about 10,000 tonnes with high piperine content under advance licence scheme. Besides, India is allowed to import 2500 tonnes of pepper from Sri Lanka at zero duty under Indo Sri Lanka free trade agreement (ISFTA) for domestic consumption. The import under SAFTA at concessional duty is happening over and above this pushing down the domestic prices, Shamji said.

Shamji also requested the government to look into the matter of large scale smuggling of Vietnam pepper into India from Nepal, Bangladesh and Myanmar by over invoicing it. This involves the evasion of GST and loss of revenue from 52 per cent import duty imposed for Vietnam pepper, Shamji alleged.

Meanwhile, growers in Karnataka have demanded that the Centre restrict import of pepper at concessional duty from Sri Lanka to 2000 tonnes. “We also urge the government to increase import duty on Vietnam pepper to 80 per cent,” said H T Pramod, former chairman, Karnataka Planters Association. Also the imports should be allowed from one or two ports to maintain a tight vigil on the inflow of the cheap pepper, Pramod said.

The fall in pepper prices over the last couple of years from a high of around Rs 697 per kg in 2016 to the current levels of Rs 340-370 per kg has hurt the incomes of planters. The decline is largely attributed to higher imports of cheap pepper “As the SAARC agreements on trade will be reviewed in mid 2019, this is a good opportunity for the Commerce Ministry to look into these unfair issues, thereby protecting the interest of pepper growers, who are mainly small growers,” Pramod added.

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