Lok Sabha Debates
Need To Regulate Import Of Black Pepper. on 7 March, 2018
Sixteenth Loksabha an> Title: Need to regulate import of black pepper.
ADV. JOICE GEORGE (IDUKKI): Even though the pepper farmers are protected by Minimum Import Price fixed by the government, the farmers are now facing the threat of illegal imports. Moreover, a dubious method of importing inferior-quality pepper from Vietnam, under the guise of value addition makes the situation more troublesome for domestic farmers. Later, they export Indian pepper packed in those Vietnam pepper bags quoting a lesser price. The Vietnamese pepper is then dumped in the domestic market thereby depriving Indian consumers the choice of home-grown superior quality pepper. On the one hand they get import duty refunded for value addition and on the other, get higher price than what was quoted during the export. Hence I urge upon the government to regulate and restrict import of black pepper which has been severely affecting Indian-grown superior quality pepper and also fix the MSP as a higher value than the MIP.