India has set quality standards for groundnut exports to meet requirements of the European Union, a key export market, ahead of an inspection visit by a trade delegation later this year to approve processing units. The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) said in a statement that groundnut and peanuts exports need to be certified by the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (Apeda) and show they meet permitted aflatoxin levels.
Earlier this month, a media report said that the EU might ban groundnut imports from India due to the presence of aflatoxin, a fungus.
Annually, the country exports about 2,50,000 - 2,75,000 tonnes of groundnuts of which EU accounts for 15% of its market. Gujarat is one of the leading groundnut exporters in the country. "These are attempts to update our quality standards at par with EU norms. A European delegation would visit India in early October to check whether oilseed processing units qualify the European quality norms," G Gopal, secretary of the Mumbai-based Indian Oilseeds and Produce Export Promotion Council, told Reuters. Further, the government has also permitted seed exports of groundnut and sesame to the Russian Federation, after exporters produce quality certificates from recognised agencies.
Russian authorities had banned imports of all plant products from India early last year but subsequently relaxed the ban after spelling out the permissible norms for such imports.
Source : www.fnbnews.com