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Alphonso mangoes may sail to South Korean shores

India looks at other options as EU delays issuing notification on lifting of ban

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Maharashtra's sweet delicacy — Alphonso mangoes — would go to a new destination this year. The Union government is in talks with South Korea to start export of the Alphonso and other varieties of Indian mangoes this season.

The government is also exploring markets for Indian mangoes in some other "hassle-less" countries. The move comes in the backdrop of the delay in the European Union (EU) notifying about lifting the ban on mangoes from India which was imposed in 2014. The informal announcement of lifting the ban was made by the EU three weeks back.

JP Singh, joint director (Entomolgy), ministry of agriculture, told dna: "As the EU notification is still awaited, we are in talks with the South Korean government; and hopefully, things would be finalised within a month. We are also looking at some other hassle-less countries for our mangoes."

The season of Alphonso and some other varieties produced in coastal and southern areas starts by March.

The EU had imposed the ban on May 1 last year, after its trade authorities in Brussels found 207 consignments of Indian fruits and vegetables to be infested with fruit flies — pests that are native to Indian soil but that could infest and damage European crops.

The ban was supposed to last until December 2015, but various agencies under the government of India have been working hard to meet the EU's import requirements and have the ban revoked much earlier. The Indian government has pledged that all food exports would be sent from APEDA-recognised pack houses.

After nearly nine months of persistent persuasion by India, the EU finally lifted its ban on the import of Indian mangoes on January 20. The central government pushed the EU to send an inspection team to audit Indian packing houses in September 2014 following which the ban was lifted. However, a notification in this regard is yet to come.

India exports nearly 4,000 tonnes of mangoes every year. Of this, 60% goes to West Asia. US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand are also significant importers. The export to EU is estimated to have a share of over 10%. The government thinks this can easily be filled by South Korea.

India Inc backs FSA
Backing the food security law in the country, the All India Association of Indian Industries has extended its cooperation to the Union government in implementing the Food Security Act (FSA) not only across the country but also across ASEAN countries. Only five states in India have implemented FSA, passed in 2013. A national-level conference in this regard was organised at World Trade Centre on Thursday, which was attended by the top officials from the ministries of external affairs and agriculture, the consul generals of 10 ASEAN countries. AIAI president Vijay Kalantri said, "Some parts of India is food surplus and some are food deficit. Food security aims to bridge this gap so as no person goes hungry. Similarly, India has to work closely with ASEAN countries, many of which are facing same regional surplus-deficit issue."

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