<p></p><p>Christmas usually comes early for exporters in Kerala as Europe and the U.S. stock their supermarkets with goodies such as cashew, seafood and spices for Christmas and New Year. But “things are not hunky-dory as they used to be last year”, said a seafood exporter on Tuesday describing the way long-term orders have dwindled. “There has hardly been any export of pepper this season,” says Jojan Malayil, exporter, to highlight a whole lot of problems putting pressure on exports. While there is a shortage of pepper in the domestic market, export prices are uncompetitive, he said.</p><p>With margins under pressure, commodities ranging from cashew to seafood from India are overpriced in the international market. For example, pepper from Brazil sells at $1,300 per tonne when compared to the same grade of the spice from India. The MG1 grade of Indian pepper is priced around U$10,600 (FoB) per tonne. Cashew kernel from Vietnam sells lower than its counterpart from India, said P. Sundaran, vice chairman, Cashew Export Promotion Council. He said processing cost had gone up 35 per cent compared to the same period last year while the cost of raw cashew was up 40 to 45 per cent, putting pressure on export, which was down 16.87 per cent between April and June this year. Cashew kernel export through Kochi port is down to 29,053 tonnes between January and June this year in comparison to the 31,317 tonnes during the same months in 2014. Seafood export through Kochi is down to 59,964 tonnes during the period in 2015 against 65,045 tonnes. Though fish landings improved during August, the situation looks grim this year, said another seafood exporter.<br></p><p></p>