Malaysia Procured Indian Spices Worth RM330 Million In 2009.

Malaysia emerged as the second largest buyer of Indian spices after the United States (US) last year.

The Kerala-based Spice Board of India in its latest report said Malaysia procured US$95 million (RM332.5 million) worth of spices from India, about eight percent of its total exports in 2009.

The US topped the importers list at 16 percent, while other traditional buyers' share was China (seven per cent), United Arab Emirates (six per cent) and the United Kingdom (five per cent).

A bulk of Malaysia's import was 45,545 metric tonnes (mt) of Indian grown chilli, amounting to US$68 million (RM238 million), making it a major buyer of the ingredient in the world.

"The mandatory quality testing of chilli and chilli products by the Board has made Indian chilli more acceptable in the international markets and helped achieve this higher level of export in it.

"Traditional buyers of Indian chilli such as Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Indonesia were active in the market," the board said in its statement.

Most of the chillies imported by Malaysia are processed and re-exported to other countries and also used in the domestic food processing industry.

Other spices imported by Malaysia were 9,177.4 mt of coriander (RM32 million), 3, 064 mt of cumin (RM25 million) and 3,951 mt of turmeric (RM20 million).

Malaysia's total imports of Indian spices stood at 64,163 mt in 2009-2010.

Despite a recession-plagued global market, India's spice trade tipped a historic 500,000 mt, estimated at US$1,173 million (RM4 billion) for 2009-2010.

Source : Bernama