NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India has set quality standards for groundnut exports to meet requirements of the European Union, a key export market, ahead of an inspection visit by a trade delegation later this year to approve processing units.
Groundnut and peanuts exports need to be certified by the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), and show they met permitted aflatoxin levels, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade said in a statement.
Earlier this month, a media report said that the European Union might ban groundnut imports from India due to the presence of aflatoxin, a fungus. See
India exports 250,000-275,000 tonnes of groundnuts, mostly from the western state of Gujarat, and the European Union accounts for 15 percent of its market.
"These are attempts to streamline our quality standards at par with EU norms," said G. Gopal, secretary of the Mumbai-based Indian Oilseeds and Produce Export Promotion Council.
Gopal said a European delegation would visit India in early October to check whether oilseed processing units qualify the European quality norms.
The government has also permitted seed exports of groundnut and sesame to the Russian Federation, after exporters produce quality certificates from recognised agencies.
Russian authorities had banned imports of all plant products from India early last year, but subsequently relaxed the ban after spelling out the permissible norms for such imports.
Source : Reuters