Up until last year, the Indian market appreciated Italian apples but was rather difficult to manage from a logistic point of view. During the past campaign, 90% of apples part of the From Italian Alps consortium, set up by Melinda and la Trentina (for Trentino) together with VOGandVI.P (for Alto Adige) was destined mainly to India and other Asian countries, such as Sri Lanka and Mongolia.
"We shipped to India around 800 20-ton containers but, this year, things are different as we won't even reach 10% of that. Demand is high but there is little produce available. Then of course we risk compromising quality during long transfers," reports Andreas Pircher (in the photo), sales & logistics manager for Consorzio From.
"India usually requires small Red Delicious, Red Chief, Gala and Granny Smith apples, while Asia demands apples that are small, crunchy and sweet. Our production, however, complies with European standards. Nonetheless, we manage to send them fruit we would otherwise find difficult to place on other markets. There are a lot of Gala apples available also from the southern hemisphere. Volumes of club varieties are limited."
For further information: www.from.bz.it/en