This year Spices and Allied Products Producers and Traders (SAPPTA) is commemorating 25 years of service to the spice industry in Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan spice industry has long been one of the country’s biggest exports. SAPPTA has a committee of members who are, among other things, dedicated in promoting regular dialogue with the State Agencies and other policy making bodies in order to maintain a good rapport.

According to Chairman Karthik Ramachandran the global recession did not have a huge impact on the spice trade. However, weather and ecological conditions do affect the crops which vary in their degree of productivity from year to year. This year has seen a drop in agricultural products mainly due to environmental circumstances which are out of the grower and producers hands.

SAPPTA deals with the entire range of spices from cinnamon to pepper, cloves, cardamom, and vanilla as well as other agricultural crops such as cashews, cocoa and coffee to name but a few. Not all of these products are grown in sufficient abundance to allow for exportation. Cinnamon is a big export from Sri Lanka with almost all the production of cinnamon exported overseas; its high quality being highly in demand across Europe, Mexico, Central America and the USA.

A new and increasingly popular trend in Sri Lanka is the conversion of crops to an organic way of production. This transformation takes three years the end result being a premium quality product. Across Europe organic products are becoming ever more popular so this change of approach in crop production has the potential to be highly successful.