The genus Cinnamomum

290 M.S. Madan and S. Kannan
of cinnamon was between 7500t and 10,000t annually. Sri Lanka contributes about
80–90%, the remaining comes from Seychelles and Madagascar. The world trade in
cassia is between 20,000 and 25,000 annually, of which Indonesia accounts for twothirds
and China most of the remainder. Other producers include Vietnam and India.
About 2000–3000t of cassia bark are exported from Vietnam annually. Taking Sri Lanka,
Madagascar and Seychelles as the cinnamon exporting countries, during 1975 the ratio
of cinnamon to cassia in the total world export was 53:47. The ratio came down to an
average of 19:81 in the 1980s and in the 1990s the ratio further came down to 13:87 of
the average world export of 75,763 t of cinnamon and cassia.
The market for cinnamon and cassia
Most countries import some quantity of cinnamon or cassia or both. In many of the
importing countries cinnamon is the most important spice commodity in use after
black pepper. The available statistics do not differentiate between cinnamon and cassia,
as both are treated under the common name of cinnamon. However, whole and ground
cinnamon, bark and leaf oils are tabulated separately in the export-import statistics.
Imports of total cinnamon (including cassia) by major-importing countries are given in
Table 12.5. The USA is the largest importer of cinnamon (mostly cassia), averaging
18,173t during 1997–99, which is about 20% of the world exports. During 1999
India was the second largest importer (12,467t). In both cases, based on the country of
origin, it can be concluded that the maximum imported commodity was cassia. The
Item-wise import of cinnamon and cassia by India during 1995–96 to 1999–2000 is
given in Table 12.6. The main items of import are cinnamon, cassia and tejpat. The total
imports went up many-fold between the reference period. Cassia and cassia leaf (tejpat)
account for more than 90% of the total imports.
United States of America
Imports of cassia and cinnamon (whole) are given in Table 12.7, while imports of ground
cinnamon and cassia are given in Table 12.8. Indonesia is the major supplier (90%) to
the USA, followed by Sri Lanka and Vietnam. India also supplies a sizable quantity to
the US market. The annual imports of cassia and cinnamon averaged 9262 t in 1976–80
and has almost doubled (18,175 t) in recent years (FAOSTAT, 2000). The ratio of cassia
to cinnamon in the total imports by the USA was previously 2:1, but recently the import
of cassia has increased. The cinnamon market was supplied almost solely by Sri Lanka,
though a small quantity was shipped from Seychelles. These countries supplied 7% of
the unground cinnamon imported into the USA during 2000. However, in terms of
value cinnamon accounts for about 28% of the total, indicating the higher price of
cinnamon in comparison to cassia in the USA market. Indonesia was the leading supplier
of cassia from 1996–2000, followed by Vietnam (USDA/FAS, 1998, 1999).
European Union
The combined cinnamon and cassia imports into European Union countries is given in
Table 12.9. Although cinnamon imports into the European Union are comparatively
small, it is an important market from the point of view of end use. European countries
like Germany, Netherlands, France and the United Kingdom are the major re-exporting