Spices Board seeks pepper export subsidy extension

The government may extend the export subsidy scheme for black pepper as traders claim it is not possible to achieve the export target in the stipulated time schedule.

The Spices Board will submit a detailed report for extension of the scheme to the union minister for state for commerce who is scheduled to visit Kerala on March 11. The Board's top brass expect a favorable response from the ministry as the extension will not incur additional liability to the government.

C J Jose, chairman, Spices Board, told Business Standard that the government had announced the scheme on October 27 last year and stipulated it till March 31, 2006.

It also announced that subsidy at the rate of Rs 7 would be disbursed for export of 20,000 tonne within the current financial year. India exported around 12,050 tonne pepper in the nine months to December 2005. It would not be possible to export 20,000 tonne within 5 months, with prices being low in the the global market, Jose said.

If the term of the scheme are extended it will also benefit exporters and also help increase domestic prices. He added that the subsidy scheme had helped increase the price line and spot prices are now quoting Rs 7,100 for un-garbled and Rs 7,500 for garbled variety, he added.

The government had sanctioned Rs 14 crore for the subsidy scheme and there will not be any additional financial commitment for extending the scheme.

The commerce minister will have discussion with the top officials of the Spices Board and will interact with exporters on March 11.

The Kerala Co-operative Marketing Federation (Marketfed) had exported pepper to the tune of around 2,000 tonne through the export subsidy scheme and succeeded in avoiding huge loss. Marketfed had procured 4,800 tonne of the commodity at a price of Rs 7,500 a quintal when market prices crashed to Rs 6,300-6,500.

Meanwhile, the Spices Board has chalked out plans to propagate its prestigious branded spice product "� Flavourit "� in the domestic market. Jose said the product would be introduced in Mumbai, Hyderabad and Chennai soon. The brand was introduced in Bangalore a few days back after its successful launch abroad.

He added that owing to the good response from the domestic market the Board had taken the initiative to launch the product in various metros. Foreign markets will also be further strengthened by appointing more distributors for Flavourit.

A Mauritius-based firm has been appointed for distribution in France and Mauritius and another company will be appointed for distribution in Germany.

Nest Condiments, a Kochi-based company has been appointed for distribution in Japan and the Gulf countries.

He said that a global distribution chain would soon be effective and there is very good response for the product wherever it had been launched especially in the US market.