Spices industry to work together to achieve a target of $10 billion of spice exports by 2030
The 14th World Spice Congress (WSC) which took place from September 15 to September 17, 2023 at the CIDCO Exhibition Centre at Vashi in Navi Mumbai saw around 1300 delegates both from India and internationally. Piyush Goyal, Minister of Commerce and Industry, a special guest for the event said India should organise the world’s largest exposition, conference, and symposium of the spice industry in Delhi in 2024 and invite exhibitors from competitor countries to see our capabilities in the spice industry and focus on value-added segment.
“Considering India’s current $4 billion export, the spices industry should target $10 billion by 2030. Spice unites India and the world. It reflects the rich cultural heritage of India. We should work to bring back the old charm of Indian spices. The theme for WSC 2023 is “VISION 2030: SPICES”, which encapsulates key pillars of Sustainability, Productivity, Innovation, Collaboration, Excellence, and Safety and should include exclusivity and inclusivity,” he added.
Emphasising on India’s substantial growth in the spice industry, Goyal stated, “India-Middle East-Europe economic corridor inaugurated at the G20 is an opportunity to bring back the glory of the old spice route and capture the world spice market.”
The attraction of the event was the ‘experience zone’. The zone, located at a prime location at the World Spice Congress, gave a hands-on experience to visitors in the universe of spices. Also the introductory video presentation was shown on “Indian Spice Sector”.
On day one, the technical session on “Country perspectives of the Spice Industry and Global opportunities” took place which was chaired by Sanjay Dave, Former Chairperson of the Codex Alimentarius Commission and Former Advisor, FSSAI & Co-chaired by Sanjeev Bisht, Chairman, All India Spices Exporters Forum (AISEF) where the speakers shared their insights. A business discussion also took place on spices for colours, extracts, and emerging applications.
There was a launch of a book called ‘Spice Revolution – Promoting Value Addition in Global Spices Trade’ along with the product launch of ‘Onboarding of Flavourit Spices to Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) in association with YES Bank’ and Launch of cardamom based nutraceutical capsules’ Recovereez Forte”, by Dr. Prashant Varkey, Zum Helen Diagnostic & Therapeutics Pvt Ltd.
The event brought together diverse participants, including policymakers, regulatory bodies, spice trade organisations, government representatives, and technical specialists from different nations.
Amardeep Singh Bhatia, Additional Secretary, Minister of Commerce, and Chairman Spices Board said, “India is a leading player in the global spice industry. Also it has been the spice centre of the world. In order to ensure that India continues to maintain its traditional strength there are several things to work on in the entire chain of spices from growers to marketers.”
“It is a shared responsibility of the government and Spices Board to come up with schemes and programmes to facilitate testing labs, assessment quality standards, etc.”, said Bhatia
D.Sathiyan IFS, Secretary, Spices Board, said, “The spices legacy is part of human culture. India is the spice bowl of the world. There is tremendous potential to explore product development, biotech, etc. in India. More than 75 spices are grown in India and each state has spices to offer.”
In order to motivate the exports in spices, the distribution of awards for excellence in spice exports took place on September 16 where Goyal distributed the awards to the winners.
Abhitash Singh