Future trends organic spices information

The organic spice trade is of particular interest to many developing countries growing spices. It should be noted that the initial growth in the organic spice sector is encouraging. Some organic food experts visualize that insufficient supply of organic spices, especially those which are required in large quantities, might become a problem in the next few years.

The future demand for organic spices appears to be bright. Any processed food can only be labelled organic if 95% of the ingredients originate from organic farming. The remaining 5% can be products, which are listed by government regulations, such as EU regulations. Spices are not listed in such regulations and must therefore be of organic origin. Assuming a market growth of 10% in Europe, USA and Japan for organic products, the world demand for organic spices could grow to 57,000 tonnes in the next ten years. This is based on the market size of 570,000 tonnes of conventional spices at that time as reported by the International Trade Centre in their publication, Imports of Spices into Selected Markets, 1999.

Although the overall picture for the organic spice sector is promising, there are a number of potential risks to be borne in mind. There could be occasional oversupply of a given spice leading to erosion of price attraction. Further, other forms or methods of environmentally friendly and sustainable agriculture are likely to result in increased competition in the future. In addition, unfavourable press reports and scare stories on higher microbial contamination in organic foods, in general, as they are not treated with chemicals also cannot be discounted.

A few issues which have to be tackled to increase organic production are worth mentioning. They are lack of technical know-how especially on production and processing methods, poor storage and processing facilities, very little market information, insufficient financing and inadequate support from the government agencies. The high cost of certification and the elaborate records to be maintained by small spice farmers to prove their cultivation system organic are also standing in the way of spreading organic spice production. Since demand for organic spices is growing and generally price attractive, it can be visualized that most of the problems would be solved in the near future.