Leading Indian importers IG International Pvt. Ltd. (IG) have signed a joint venture agreement with Australian company Mountain Blue (MB) to grow high quality blueberries in India.
The new joint venture company will be known as BerryLife.
IG Director Tarun Arora welcomed the new partnership, noting the berries will be high yielding and one of the best varieties available around the globe. “We’ve been looking for a good variety of blueberry to be grown by ourselves locally. That’s why we’re really looking forward to the partnership with MB, the company has already done its research on India and conducted pilots of blueberries in the country. I believe this is the first step in achieving our key goal, which is to be non-dependent on imported blueberries.”
According to Arora, “MB is one of the leaders in producing blueberries and it was destiny that we’ve been partnered with IG. Both companies complement each other given the different strengths and skill sets. This makes the partnership very capable of addressing various challenges given our combined experience and skills.”
“Demand for blueberries in India is growing and we believe that the Indian market is ready to embrace the fruit given its unique combination of being sweet and crunchy, not to mention, its extremely good shelf life. IG is looking to increase its overall revenue with this effort and the company will see its growth of 30% year on year sustain or increase,” Arora added.
MB Managing Director Andrew Bell said the joint venture was an extremely exciting opportunity for the Australian owned blueberry company. “I am personally very proud of this joint venture and see it as huge growth opportunity in India, which is a great market for fresh produce from around the world,” Bell said.
The berries will be harvested from February until August and grown in 50 hectares in four locations in the Western Region of India.
For more information:
Shubha Wadhawan
IG International Pvt. Ltd. (Indian)
Phone: +91 9899487775
Email: shubha.wadhawan@igindia.net
www.iginternational.net