Bangladesh's spice import falls as pandemic saps hospitality demand

Spice import plummeted as demand for the cooking ingredients shrank amid corona prohibition on international and internal tours and hospitality as well as consumption restraint. The import volume of mostly-consumed spices dropped to 35,771 tonnes during the January-June period of this calendar year, down by around 30 per cent from the previous corresponding period, according to the Plant Quarantine Wing of the Department of Agriculture. The agricultural department monitors the import of spices and herbs in order to prevent introduction of quarantine pests into Bangladesh from other countries. The mass-consumed spices are cloves, cardamom, cumin, ginger, garlic and cinnamon. Local spice importers procured cloves worth 1072 tonnes in period under review, cardamom 2403 tonnes, cumin 4831 tonnes, ginger 4026 tonnes, garlic 23713 tonnes and cinnamon 3752 tonnes. These are the big-volume imports that entered the country through Chittagong seaport. There are some imports through land ...