Volumes already shipped from India (as on 17th March) are up almost 47% over last year at 2965 (EU - 1816 and UK - 517 and Russia - 632) vs 2013 containers sent at this time last year. "Now the volumes will fall due to the hail damage and the end of supply from Sangli region so the season is expected to end marginally down as compared to last year. India exported about 5280 containers last year but due to the unseasonal rains this year, we expect to export about 4850 containers. We can expect a sharp tapering-off of Indian supply towards the end of the season from week 16 – quite unlike what we experienced last year," explains Vikram.
Most of the Indian grape volumes go to the EU (about 4350 containers a year) with a small amount, around 700-800 containers, going to China and Russia, South East Asia & the Middle East. These are mostly Thompson seedless with a small amount of black seedless.
"The EU market is good at the moment with good prices, this is good for the Indian growers as they will need this to make up for the losses recently suffered," Vikram explains. South African and South America volumes have also been affected by hail and frost this year.
Asked about a possible import stop on European fruit to Russia, Vikram said that some Indian suppliers would likely go directly there, but he would not as the risks are high when dealing with unknown buyers.
Vikram is also supplying the domestic market with fruit under the Soboro brand, the first branded fruit to enter the Indian domestic market.For more information:
Vikram Puti
Mahindra Shubhlabh Services Ltd
Tel: +91 22 2965 2633
Email: puri.vikram@mahindra.com