New Zealand to host Indian spice festival

AUCKLAND - India, the world’s largest producer of spices, will showcase its rich produce at the first Indian spice festival in New Zealand starting here Sunday.

The five-day festival has been organised by the Spices Board India in collaboration with the Indian High Commission and the Stamford Plaza hotel.

Hundreds of spice traders from New Zealand will have the opportunity to meet some of the leading spice exporters and importers from India.

Sunny Kaushal, Stamford Plaza’s marketing director, said the participation of the Spices Board India was of special interest to traders as this was one of the biggest trade events in New Zealand.

India produces over a 100 spices. At present, production is around 3.2 million tonnes of different spices valued at approximately $4 billion, said the Spices Board of India.

Due to the varying climates - from tropical to sub-tropical to temperate - almost all spices grow splendidly in India.