Cheaper Iranian apple hits stored Himachal produce hard

Tribune News Service

Subhash Rajta

Shimla, April 16

Apple growers and traders are suffering “huge losses” on stored fruit this time. They claim that the loss per box is in the range of Rs 800 to Rs 1,000. “The demand for domestic apple has dried up in the market. Both growers and traders are bleeding huge losses,” says NS Chaudhary, former president of the State Arhtiya Sangh.

Evading import duty

The major reason for domestic apple taking such a massive beating is the heavy import of the fruit, especially from Iran and Turkey. To make the matters worse, a lot of fruit is routed through Afghanistan to evade import duty. So, the market is flooded with cheaper Iranian apple and there’s no demand for high-priced domestic apple. Ashutosh Chauhan, Vice-president, Progressive Growers Association

A number of traders, growers and even arhtiyas store apple in normal cold stores in the running season to sell it in the off season in the hope of getting better prices. They earned a good profit on stored apple last year, but this time they are struggling to get even a decent price.

“The major reason for the domestic apple taking such a beating is the heavy import of the fruit, especially from Iran and Turkey. To make the matters worse, a lot of fruit is routed through Afghanistan to evade import duty. So, the market is flooded with cheaper Iranian apple and there’s no demand for high-priced domestic apple,” says Ashutosh Chauhan, vice-president of the Progressive Growers Association.

The other reason for losses this time is a higher procurement price of the stored apple in the last season and relatively poor quality of the fruit. “Apple was procured at quite a high price in the running season last year. Then there’s storage cost of around Rs 250 to Rs 300 per box. Also, the quality of the stored apple isn’t top-notch due to excessive rain and the lack of sunlight last year. These factors, too, have pulled down the rates of the apple this time,” says a grower.

According to Chaudhary, fluctuating prices are a common occurrence but the massive fall in demand for domestic apple is unprecedented. “The demand for domestic apple has dried up, which is very surprising. We haven’t seen such a situation anytime before. The market is flooded with cheap Iranian apple and hence there’s no demand for the costlier domestic apple anywhere in the country,” he adds.

“And now that mango has hit the market, the demand for apple will go further down. If the entry of Iranian apple is not checked, the domestic growers and traders are going to face a very tough time in future,” he adds.

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