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The entire pepper trade has voiced their concern over the slippage of duty free imported pepper into the domestic market, particularly because of the presence of Salmonella bacteria as well as pesticide residues.
The import figures in February shows that a total of 1243 tonnes have been imported for re-exports. Of this, 440 tonnes are from Brazil, Vietnam (659 tonnes), Sri Lanka (70 tonnes), Ecuador (73 tonnes). However, imports for domestic use at MIP stood at 38 tonnes. Major importers are from Delhi and Mumbai, said Kishore Shamji of Kishor Spices.
Since it is reported that DGFT has issued license to import pepper from Sri Lanka, it is giving wrong signals that for those licenses MIP is not applicable, while the policy remains unchanged as far as MIP is concerned. According to Shamji, farmers are closely watching and their main concern is the slippage of Brazilian pepper into the domestic market. Bolder berries of Vietnam pepper are also reported to be slipping into the domestic market, he said.
Traders are worried that there could be a confusion among end-users in the domestic market if the FSSAI detects the presence of bacteria in the Brazilian commodity.
Meanwhile, the pepper market in Kochi remained steady without any changes in prices which was quoting Rs299 for ungarbled varieties. The off-take was 12 tonnes.
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