Apple cartons costlier by 10 to 15 pc this year

Shimla, July 13

Apple growers will have to shell out 10 to 15 per cent more this year for cartons as the Horticulture Produce Marketing and Processing Corporation (HPMC) released the prices of lowest bids that it has received for packaging material.

The rate of the premium white plus white carton (20kg) has increased to Rs 75.65 from Rs 68.67 while the brown plus brown (20kg) carton has gone up from Rs 58.83 to Rs 66.78. Incidentally, the cost of cartons had increased by around 10 to 15 per cent last year.

“The major reason for the hike is the increase in GST rate from 12 to 18 per cent on packaging material. Besides, the manufacturers claimed that paper too has become expensive,” said an HPMC official.

Moreover, the HPMC will not sell trays, which are used in the cartons, this season. “There was only one bidder for trays and even his documents were incomplete. So, we could not consider his bid. The growers will have to buy the trays from the market,” the official said.

This year the price of the trays has seen a massive hike. The growers are claiming that the cost of a single tray has gone by Rs 2.5 to Rs 3. “It’s not practical to buy cartons from the HPMC and trays from open market. Buyers will lose bargaining advantage when purchasing items from two different vendors,” Joginder Khachi, who runs a grading and packaging unit, said.

With the cost of the packaging material rising significantly over the past couple of years, the idea of using plastic crates as an alternative was discussed quite enthusiastically last year. HP State Agricultural Marketing Board had brought together all stakeholders for the discussion, but the idea did not take off. This season there has been no talk of using plastic crates even as the cost of packaging material has surged further.

The marketing board had also approached IIT Mandi for cost effective and eco-friendly packaging material more than one-and-a-half-year back. It’s not known yet when IIT Mandi will come up with its prototype.