Ever wondered how those fancy, imported varieties of fruits at stores or bazaars - the ones that you used to pick from the basket but put back in as quickly after noticing the exorbitant prices - have become relatively affordable in recent times?
Ever wondered how those fancy, imported varieties of fruits at stores or bazaars - the ones that you used to pick from the basket but put back in as quickly after noticing the exorbitant prices - have become relatively affordable in recent times?
If industry insiders are to be believed, then India is slowly getting more imported fruits from the European countries and the US market after Russia banned imports of several products including fresh fruits in response to economic sanctions by several western countries in the aftermath of Russia's annexation of Crimea and alleged support of rebels in Ukraine.
Gianchand Arora, chairman of Navi Mumbai-based IG International that is one of the largest fruit importers in the country, "This has definitely made things more affordable for Indian consumers. The supply from US, Europe, Canada, Australia and other countries is increasing as producers and exporters there are trying to push fruits in Indian markets after Russian ban."
The prices of the fruits have fallen due to better bargaining power the Indian importers have accrued to the changed situation and the lower prices then get passed on to the end consumers, the insiders reveal.
As per the estimates drawn from several sources including the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, India imports around 330,000 metric tonne fruits from several countries though mainly from the US, Europe, South Africa, South East Asia, Canada, South East Asia.
In foreign exchange terms , imported fruits is a $500 million market growing at 30% year on year since (YoY) past three years. In comparison, domestic fruit market is growing only at 20% Y-o-Y.
The imported fruits are sold at a premium of around 50-65% over the locally procured ones, the experts said.
According to the industry sources, some of the imported fruits that are getting popular in India include Kiwi (both green & golden), orange (Valencia, Mandarin and Malta), plum, blueberry, dragon fruit, grapefruit, mangosteen, Thai guava, red globe grapes, apples (Granny Smith, Fuji and Washington) and rambutan.
Echoing the sentiments of Arora, Mohammed Sibgath, proprietor of Bengaluru-based ASS Fruit Co, said that the lower price is helping them in pushing the fruit to even those who earlier could not afford it.
"We are now able to take these fruits to the masses, which was not the case earlier. Hopefully, the trend will catch up further in coming days. The prices have gone down by around 20-30% over period of past few months."
According to Sibgath, the imports are now progressively moving to cities other than metros and even in small towns like Nagpur, Lucknow, Vizag, Coimbatore, Bhopal, etc. However, he insisted that the drop in prices is only for common fruits and not the exotic ones.
The e-tailers, too, are optimistic of continuation of the trend even in near future. For example, leading online grocery platform Grofers observed an increasing demand in the fruit segment, reporting 75% growth, mainly on increase in assortment.
Prashant Verma, director (marketing), Grofers, said, "Kiwi imports increased by 60% last year, citrus fruits by 30% and apples by 20%. This is only 2.5% of all Asian imports of fresh fruits, and hence, a huge opportunity in India," said Verma.
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