First Intl. Spice Conference In Goa From January 21
15 January, Kochi
The All India Spices Exporters Forum (AISEF), the premier spice industry and trade body of India, jointly with the Cochin Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI), will be hosting the first ever International Spice Conference in Goa from January 21 to 24.
Informing this at a press conference here AISEF chairman Gulshan John said that the four-day event will be inaugurated European Spice Association chairman Nils Meyer Pries and Managing Director Fuchs Gewrze GmbH.
Over 500 delegates including 150 international industry colleagues from 30 countries, 45 speakers and several more have already registered for the event, making this one of the most important events of this year, he said adding that PepsiCo India Holdings Ltd Chairman and CEO D Shivakumar would deliver the keynote address
The intent is to hold such an event every year so that the India helps create a hub for knowledge sharing for the global spice industry to facilitate exchange of thoughts and co-creating the future with all our global stake holder, he added.
” AISEF will also be signing a Memorandum of Understanding with IDH Sustainable Trade Initiative a foundation in Netherlands at the International Spice Conference under which both parties will collectively work on projects and initiatives for creating and supplying Clean , Safe and Sustainable Spices in India, he said.
Regarding the vision of the industry, John said that to grow the Indian spice industry, which had good penitential, to US dollars five billion from the current 2.43 billion USD by 2020 and export Value Added Spices which would besides earning more Forex lead to higher employment.
To achieve this would require that we bring about major changes to the way we do business and we look forward to active support and encouragement from the government and support of our overseas partners, he said.
Facilitating value addition should be a key area of focus, John said that the mission of the Spice Industry was to make India the processing hub for spices, spice products and its derivatives and thereby
contribute meaningfully to the governments Make in India campaign.
In light of this several steps have already been initiated and we now have several global top Flavour and Fragrance (FnF) Companies collaborating with Indian Companies. We now have few companies already in India with Joint Ventures (JV) and own Manufacturing facilities which is proof of Indian strength as a global service and market, he further added.
Stating that the product quality requirements were becoming stringent the world over day by day, he said initiatives to ensure food safety would be the second area to focus on and backward integration and intensive research in agriculture and processing technology had also become inevitable.
Export-Import Trade agreements with emerging markets (Iran, Africa, Egypt, Libya, South America, East Europe etc) are an area that would require government support and involvement, he said
In his address Cochin Chamber of Commerce and Industry president C S Kartha said the export of spices from India touched to 76000 tonnes upto November last, as against 72000 tonnes exported in the last financial year.