US apple promoters bite into local fruit markets

The biggest port of call for the import of these apples is Mumbai, followed by Chennai and Kolkata. Almost 50 per cent of the imports come into Chennai, which is a hub and gets rerouted to different South Indian cities. 

Rebecca Lyons, International Marketing Director, Washington Apple Commission, says, “We have around 1,450 apple growers in Washington state. Red Delicious is the variety of apples we ship mostly to India (98 pc of shipments). It is also the variety that we grow in Washington in the highest volumes.”

In the US context, it is one of the more reasonably priced variants. “Almost 30 per cent of the crop cultivated here is Red Delicious. About 50 per cent of our exports is of the same variety of apples. Production wise, we are looking at 136 million cartons globally. The local unit of measurement, called bushel, is based on the volume of an apple box. Each box would be around 20 kg,” she explains. 

Keith Sunderlal, of the SCS Group, which represents the Commission in India, tells us “The best season we ever had was 2014-15 crop year (Sep to Aug), when we shipped 5.5 mn cartons (almost 11,000 tonnes) to India. In 201516, we were under 3 million cartons as we had a shorter crop in the US and a bumper crop in India. This year, hopefully, we should be crossing the 5.5 mn carton target. At this point in the year, we are 10 per cent higher than what we were in 2014-15 for the same period.” 

Mexico is the largest importer of the Washington apples, followed by Canada and India. The apples are priced between Rs 140-200 per kilo when sold in India.  Talking about the underlying factors that drive the sales of apples in the Indian market, Sunderlal says, “India produces about 2 million tonnes of apples annually. 

We have a population of about 1.3 billion people. On a per capita basis, that is less than 1.5 kg of apples per person. Even at higher incomes levels, with about 40 per cent of the population being able to afford apples hypothetically, there are hardly any apples available for consumption. On an average, developed countries consume between 30-40 kg per person.” 

He adds, “Rising income levels are certainly a driver, i.e. more Indians are spending on food. The demand for imported apples is also driven by the fact that there aren’t many sellers of domestically produced apples.” The Commission will soon embark on a range of marketing initiatives in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities in TN to push the sales of the apples in these regions.