By Sreekumar Raghavan
BANGALORE: India’s leading spices exporters, S A Rawther Spices (P) Ltd is setting up an ultra-modern plant for the production of value added spaces at Hindupur in Andhra Pradesh, close to the Karnataka border.

Syed M Rawther, Managing Director and Anish Rawther, Director told Commodity Online that the new facility coming up 21 acres of land is expected to start commercial production by early 2009. The value-added production facility will have a built-up space of one lakh square feet.

Commenting on the new venture Anish Rawther said that steam sterilization and all the modern equipments have been sourced from West Germany and Switzerland. The new facility entailing an investment of Rs 20 crore and above will provide additional employment to 150 people. For pre-cleaning of spices, state-of-the art equipment from Switzerland is being deployed, Anish said. The new venture is expected to double the turnover of the company from Rs 100 cr to Rs 200 crore within a year of operations.

Among the commodities to be processed for value-addition include chilli, sesame, cumins, ginger and a host of other commodities. S A Rawther figures among top 20 exporters of coffee in India. “We already have a modern processing facility in Bangalore with a built-up space of 1,20,000 sq ft in Bangalore housed in 4.5 acres of land and among the top certified and licensed exporters of spices to United States of America,” the father-son duo said. The facility was set up in 1996 when the old facility established in 1970’s could not meet the increasing demand for processed spices, Anish Rawther said.

S A Rawther Spices, winner of several awards for export from Government of Karnataka and Spices Board were also instrumental in bringing ginger and pepper cultivation to Karnataka.”We popularized the ginger variety which is capable of being converted into dry ginger in Shimoga, Hassan and Coorg districts,” Syed and Anish Rawther said.

“The challenge for Indian spices is the higher domestic price prevailing currently compared to other origins although there is good international demand that is able to keep the country’s export momentum at high levels,” Anish Rawther said. However, on a positive note the demand for spices with in the country is increasing and therefore growers and traders can expect prices for majority of the spice commodities to remain bullish, both pepper and ginger are currently in short cycles.