If prices of Brazilian and Chilean apples remain similar to last season, there's a good chance Polish and Turkish apples will do well in the Indian market this season. The Polish harvest is larger, and quality seems to be on par, one apple trader says.
Saurabh Tanwar, CEO of Fruitways Chile, states that he expects a better apple crop from Poland, where Fruitways also operates: “In general, the production of Gala apples is 10% higher than last year’s crop. On top of that, the apples are cheaper this year compared to the previous year. I would also say that the quality, especially of Galas, is better. It’s hard to say anything about the cheaper varieties just yet, but I did hear that overall the Polish quality is better than the Spanish or Italian apples this season. This is due to the high temperatures in Spain and Italy during the harvest.”
India is having trouble with its currency, as it's losing value against the US Dollar, making shipping really expensive, Tanwar explains. “India is facing its own challenge, as there is also inflation, while the value of the INR Rupees has dropped by 10% against the US dollar. It is my belief this will continue to fall lower against the USD. Shipping prices are still high from 3400USD earlier to 6000 USD now, and material costs are also still very high. For now, India is also looking forward towards Turkey and Iran for their apples due to these increased shipping costs.”
Although the people of India are dealing with floods, Tanwar feels the prices will have more of an impact on the demand of apples than the weather conditions: “I don’t think the floods in India will impact the demand of apples, but the cost of apples will definitely impact demand. If we take a look at our last season, Gala from Chile (29 USD) & Brazil (23 USD) turned out to be a disaster in the Indian market, due to its high price and lower quality. Meanwhile, the unethical practice of some giant Indian importers by declaring parallel value invoice into customs, instead of declaring the right price, also didn’t help. While the Chilean and Brazilian apples failed in the Indian market, Poland and Tukey both did really well selling their stock here, as they offered lower prices.”
Overall, Tanwar has hopes for the new season to be a lot better than the previous one. “To be fair, the market in India was a disaster as a whole last year, not just for apples, but other fruits as well. I do hope that this season’s Gala apples will do well in the market, I expect Poland and Turkey to do great, especially if prices of Chilean, Brazilian and New Zealand’s apples remain the same,” he concludes.
For more information:
Saurabh Tanwar
Fruitways Chile
Tel: +56 9 8894 6256
Email: saurabh@fruitways.pl