After surge, now dip in demand for Afghan dry fruits in Amritsar

Amritsar, November 11

The spurt in demand for dry and fresh fruits of Afghan origin during the festival season has now turned moderate.

Unimpressed with the quality of imported dry fruits due to heavy showers, importers found that there was a shortage of nearly 30 per cent of the stock this time.

Anil Mehra, a trader, said import of fresh fruits like pomegranate, grapes and sardha, a kind of melon, were the major items imported after dry fruits. Among dry fruits, figs, manaqa, raisins and kishmish were imported.

After crossing over into Amritsar, a majority of these consignments get supplied to markets across the country, including cities like Hyderabad, Mumbai and even Gujarat.

India imports around $500 million worth of dry fruits from Afghanistan every year. A good quantity of it is imported through the Integrated Check Post (ICP) in Amritsar. Afghanistan provides nearly 40 kinds of dry fruits, medicinal herbs and seeds but its share in the Indian dry fruits market is just 10 per cent. The rest of the bulk demand is met by the USA, which is the biggest supplier, followed by Australia, Iran, Turkey and other countries.