Sri Lanka hosts pepper talks

Oct 30, 2012 (LBO) - Sri Lanka will host the annual meeting of an inter-governmental organization of pepper producing countries this week, where production and export issues will be discussed, including a new set of manufacturing guidelines.









Once approved, they will be applicable to all the member countries who have faced complaints from buyers about the quality of pepper in the global market mainly due to poor post-harvest handling and storage.

The 40th session of the International Pepper Community, to be held during October 30 - November 2, will be attended by 350 delegates of whom 260 are from foreign countries, said Sarada de Silva, chairman of the Spice Council.

Spice traders associations from the United States, Europe and Japan will be among those taking part in the IPC meeting, hosted by Sri Lanka's ministry of minor export crop promotion, he said.

The IPC meetings will cover pepper farming methods, production forecasts and quality improvement and export promotion.

A new set of good manufacturing practices for pepper production and processing recommended recently by the IPC will be discussed at the Colombo meeting, trade officials said.

The new hygienic practices cover the minimum requirements of hyg