Helped by a boom in demand for chilli, spice exports from India during 2004-05 crossed the three-lakh-tonne mark to grow 32 per cent in quantity and 23 per cent in value. Growth in dollar terms was an impressive 18 per cent.

Spices exports from the country has crossed $ 500 m mark for the first time helped by a surge in earnings from export of value-added products like spice and mint oils, oleoresins and curry powders.

EXPORT of organic spices is showing marginal increase with the addition of more items every year ever since the country started exporting with organic pepper in 1998-99

There are 52 kinds of spices under the Spices Board of India, the nodal body for the industry. In 2005, India exported as much as 335,000 tonnes of spices valued at Rs.22 billion ($497 million).

Within the past one decade the international trade in spices has grown by leaps and bounds. An estimated 500,000 tonnes of spices and herbs valued at 1500 million US dollars are now imported globally every year. An impressive 46% of this supply comes from India.