Policy to Promote Export of Spices

The Government organised National Conference of all Stakeholders including producers, exporters, representatives of spice industry and state governments etc. on Development and Export of Spices on 27th January, 2015 at New Delhi to discuss and chart out a road map for development and promotion of spices including export of spices. Following the Conference, a national roadmap for spices sector has been drawn up for implementation.

Government, through the Spices Board, implements various programmes for promoting exports of spices with focus on value addition, quality improvement and branding. Spices Board provides financial assistance to exporters for infrastructure development, trade promotion including participation in international fairs, product development & research, spice processing in North East region, promotion of India spice brands and certification of Spice Houses. Spice Parks have been set up to provide common processing facilities to producers and exporters. Spices Board has setup six quality evaluation laboratories at Cochin, Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Guntur and Tuticorin for providing analytical services and is setting up two more at Kolkata & Kandla.

Government has recently fixed the minimum price for imported cardamom at Rs. 500/- per kg. in order to regulate quality and volume of cardamom imports. The quality of imported spices is also regularly monitored by the Spices Board. The Spices Board chairs the Codex Committee on Spices and Culinary Herbs (CCSCH) set up by the Codex Alimentarius Commission to set international standards for spices and help Indian exports.

This information was given by the Minister of State (Independent Charge) in the Ministry of Commerce & Industry Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today.