India is not only the largest producer but also the largest consumer and exporter in the world Spices are produced almost in all states of India. The objective of the study was to find out the growth and instability in the export quantity and value of major spices during post WTO period and to estimate the direction of trade of major spices in India. The growth rate for quantity exported was negatively significant (−3.42 per cent) during post WTO period than pre-WTO period. In terms of quantity exported Turmeric had a significant growth rate during pre and post WTO periods with 8.54 per cent and 5.96 per cent respectively. The results of instability in total spice export indicated that the spice trade was more stable in post liberalisation period than pre liberalisation period. USA was one of the most stable country among the major importer of Indian pepper as reflected by the high probability of retention at 0.6909. It indicated that Nepal was one of the most stable country in cumin exports as reflected by the high probability of retention at 0.2057. UAE was one of most stable importers of Indian turmeric because it retained its original share of around 29.70 per cent over the period. Indian Chilli has a high competitiveness in international market, as the NPC estimated were very low to unit value. The average NPC value estimated during 2010–11 to 2015–16 was 0.43. NPC for all the spices are less than one which clearly indicated that these spices are competitive in the international market. Among the spices, coriander and turmeric are more competitive.
Ramanathan et al. (Thu,) studied this question.