US market opens to Indian pomegranates

This year, top officials at the Maharashtra State Agriculture Marketing Board (MSAMB) expect to expo…

This year, top officials at the Maharashtra State Agriculture Marketing Board (MSAMB) expect to export around 50,000 tonnes of pomegranates to the US market. The first shipment of around 1.3 tonnes, organised by the MSAMB and the Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) arrived in Miami on May 1.

According to Milind Akare, MD, MSAMB, Maharashtra usually exports around 17,000 tonnes of pomegranates out of the total 20,000 tonnes that are exported from the country. The opening of the US market will lead to the opening of other major markets to India as well, he said, adding that this season, the export is expected to increase by some five times. Pomegranate is a seasonal fruit and at present, there is a huge demand from the US market, he said. The US market is tough since the pomegranates have to undergo an irradiation process which is mandatory for all fruit.

Chandrakant Patil, cooperation minister, Maharashtra said that the state government would endeavour to send fruits other than mangoes to the US market. Farmers are being registered on Anarnet on the lines of the Mangonet registrations as was done earlier in the case of mangoes for APEDA, he said. The Bhagwa variety of pomegranates is popular in the US, he said.

A team of officials from the Maharashtra Pomegranate Growers Research Association was in South Africa last week to study how well the Bhagwa crop variety is doing in that country. According to Prabhakar Chandane, chairman of the association, the techniques used by South Africans were far advanced and more than 30-40% of the crop is exported, especially to European countries.

There is a lot Indian farmers can learn from them, he said, adding that the farmers had been to South Africa to study if the crop is affected by the oily spot disease. The crop in Maharashtra, where the Bhagwa variety is usually grown, is affected by this disease, he said.

Rates have also gone up to almost R60-70 per kg in wholesale markets and export markets command rates of R80-90 per kg, he said. The total production is expected to touch some 2 million tonnes. In addition to Maharashtra, pomegranates are now being cultivated in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka. While the government quotes figures of 9 million hectares, the association says the crop is cultivated on some 14 million hectares, 1.5 times more than the earlier acreage, he said. Maharashtra contributes 90% to the country’s total pomegranate production.

Normally, the export season begins in November every year and is completed by March. However, the season was extended up to April this year, Chandane said.

For exports, West Asia continues to remain one of the biggest markets for India, Chandane said. This year, India also exported pomegranates to countries such as Bangladesh, Bahrain, Sri Lanka and the Netherlands. Although Russia emerged as a new market last year, traders are not keen to send products there owing to payment issues in the previous year, Chandane said.