Sri Lanka is historically renowned for producing spices with exceptional quality especially cinnamon, pepper, cloves, cardamoms, nutmeg and mace. The spice industry is an important sub-sector of the Sri Lankan economy, contributing 0.75 per cent of total Gross Domestic Product. Sri Lankan soil and climate are well suited to producing good quality spices. It is believed that Sri Lankan spices are intrinsically superior to those from other origins. Sri Lanka is the largest producer of cinnamon in the world and contributes to over 80 per cent of the total global production of cinnamon. In the case of pepper, around 3 per cent of the world demand for pepper is supplied by Sri Lanka.