The Consortium of Pepper Growers has welcomed the move of the Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry to bring about an amendment to the Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) towards fixing Minimum Import Price (MIP) of Rs 500 on every kilo of pepper imported to the Indian market. The Consortium expressed hope that the action implemented will lead to an appreciation in the commercial aspect of Indian pepper.
Addressing reporters at Campco Administrative Office here on Thursday, Organisation Chief Convener Konkodi Padmanabha, referred to the notification by the Directorate of Foreign Trade under the Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry dated December 6 and said that import price will be applicable on crushed, ground, uncrushed, unground, long pepper, light black pepper, black pepper (garbled and ungarbled), green pepper (dehydrated), pepper pinheads, frozen or dried green pepper, pepper other than green and frozen pepper, bearing various Exim codes. The provided CIF value is Rs 500 and above per kilogram.
The amendment has been introduced to the import policy condition of pepper classified under Chapter 9 of ITC (HS), said a notification issued by Foreign Trade Director General Alok Vardhan Chaturvedi.
Konkodi, on behalf of the organisation, thanked the Central government, Union Minister for Commerce Suresh Prabhu, Union Skill Development Minister Anant Kumar Hegade, Members of Parliament Nalin Kumar Kateel, Shobha Karandlaje and Pratap Simha for addressing the problems of growers.
A delegation comprising the members of the consortium of pepper growers organisation had met Union Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu, Union Skill Development Minister Hegade and senior officials of the Central Horticultural department, requesting them to initiate measures to check the import of low quality pepper to Indian market, Konkodi recalled.
The major move by the Central government will play a decisive role in applying brakes on the import of low quality pepper to India.
As a result of import of pepper in large quantities, the demand for good quality Indian pepper had reduced against the comparably poor quality of pepper imported from Vietnam through Sri Lanka. In the month of November, the market prices of pepper has witnessed a record low point, following which, the Consortium of Pepper Growers' Organisation was formed by 14 growers' organisations including UPASI, CAMPCO, KGFKPA, COPA, BG, SB, TMSS and TSS.
With the implementation of the new notification, the local growers will benefit as the demand for Indian pepper will catch up again.
Campco president S R Satishchandra, Vice President Shankaranarayana Bhat, Managing Director Suresh Bhandary M and Director Krishna Prasad Madtila were present.
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'Import pepper only at times of shortage'
Organisation co-convener Vishwanath K K said that the growers have requested the government to import pepper only at times of shortage and not otherwise. Dumping duty should be applied on the imported pepper. Import duty on pepper should be increased to 108% from 64%. Pepper should be imported at only two identified ports in India. Government Certification should be done so as to assure the quality of imported pepper. Strict legal action should be initiated against the issue of fake certificates on imported pepper.