Regardless of being the largest producer and exporter of various sorts of spices in the world, India’s share in the global seasoning market, pegged at $14 billion in 2024, is barely a paltry 0.7%, towards China’s 12% and U.S.A.’s 11%, stated Ramkumar Menon, chairman, the World Spice Organisation (WSO).
India at the moment exports 1.5 million tonne of spices of every kind value $4.5 billion, commanding a quarter of the global spice market valued at $20 billion.
Mr. Menon stated at the moment solely 48% of India’s spice exports have been valued-added merchandise whereas the remaining bulk hits the markets as culinary entire spices. To obtain the Spices Board of India’s export goal of $10 billion by 2030, the nation’s share in value-added spices ought to rise as much as 70%, he opined.
‘’Seasoning is a enormous market. Despite India being the largest producer and exporter of spices ,our present share in seasoning is absolutely low, and now we have a enormous alternative to develop in this phase,’‘ he said.
Mr. Menon further said, it was also critical for the Indian spice sector to explore the nutraceutical and pharmaceutical value of spices in a big way.
‘’We ought to discover the nutraceutical and pharmaceutical scope of our spices in a main manner. This is one other manner of worth including by discovering newer methods of helpful consumption for our spices. Several spices are already being utilized by Ayurveda and different colleges of medication,’‘ he pointed out.
According to Mr. Menon, some 85% of the spices grown in India are consumed domestically. Although India leads the world in spice production, Vietnam, Indonesia, Brazil and China are also active players in the global spice markets. Africa entered spice production in recent years.
On the importance of increasing spice production within the country, he observed that, other than the traditional spice-growing States in the country, the North Eastern region, Odisha and Jharkhand were emerging as sizable producers of various spices.
‘’India has 15 totally different agro-climatic zones and this helps us develop a extensive number of spices, virtually in all states,’‘ he said.
However, he said the country currently does not grow enough spices for exports. “Export possibilities are huge. To cash in on this, we have to increase our production to start with. We also have to find ways to bring down cost of production and increase focus on quality and scale our share in value added spices.’‘
According to Mr. Menon, to spice up manufacturing, exports and worth addition, The World Spice Organisation, a platform that unites all stakeholders in the spice trade comprising farmers, processors, teachers, and end-users, is working intently with a number of FPOs (farmer producer organisations) to extend security, high quality and sustainability in spice cultivation by means of coaching farmers on high quality management points and and instructing them the significance rising spices utilizing pesticides inside the stipulated limits. Spice farmers are additionally skilled in built-in pest administration, water administration and hygiene practices round dealing with, processing and packaging.
He additionally emphasised on the necessity for creating high-yielding and climate-resistant sorts of spices in the nation, including organisations resembling Indian Council of Agricultural Research and National Research Centre on Seed Spices have been already engaged on these fronts.
Published – March 07, 2025 07:19 pm IST
