Surge in price halts Pakistan's chili exports

Price of Dundicut rises to Rs24,000 per 40kg

KARACHI: Chili and sauce exporters have urged the government to take measures to bring down skyrocketing prices of chili, due to cartelisation, which has halted chili export for the last three months by impairing their competitiveness in the international market.

The small-medium enterprise (SME) spices exporters are badly affected due to the malpractices of the middlemen and are suffering due to the high prices of chilies under their control, said Munaf Bawany committee member of Pakistan Food Products Processors and Manufacturers Association (PFPPMA). The price of Dundicut, the red small blotted chili, has surged to Rs24,000 per 40 kilograms, which should have been at around Rs8,000 to Rs10,000, according to spices exporter Bawani.

Dundicut is an international sought-after chili, which is grown in Kunri and Umerkot districts in the province of Sindh. It has been more than three months that the export of chili has been halted due to high prices in the local market, he added.

In April 2020, Pakistan exported $6.957 million of spices against $7.706 million in 2019, according to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) data.

Chili is an important commodity used in every household kitchen and the manufacturing units of spices for domestic consumption or exports are handicapped without chili, as it is an essential ingredient in all ground spices.

Pakistan is not only manufacturing the best sauces of different kinds as per international standards but is also exporting those sauces. “The import duty on sauces must be increased in the forthcoming budget to discourage imports and to encourage our domestic industry, which has achieved a high benchmark,” said UNISAME President Zulfikar Thaver.

The middlemen operating in Kunri and Umerkot areas of Sindh control the supply of the commodity to the SME processors of spices and indulge in hoarding, profiteering and black marketing. It is reported that chili is also smuggled making it non-available to the SME units, he added.

Mukesh Kuma, who is the provincial chief of SMEDA Sindh has convened a meeting of spices exporters on June 8, 2020, at the behest of UNISAME and PFPPMA to examine the situation in true perspectives. However, in his opinion, the prices of chilies will come down when the new crop comes shortly. The demand and supply position is likely to improve considerably.

SMEDA played an important role in the set up and management of the dehydration plant of chilies at Kunri Sindh. The dundicut red chilies of Kunri are world-famous and are considered a geographical indication (GI) in the list of our GI items like basmati rice, Sargodha kinnos, Mirpurkhas mangoes, Kasuri methi and Multani halwa, apprised Thaver.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 7^th, 2020.

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