“There’s monopoly for Indian garlic right now as China doesn’t have garlic. We are also receiving a lot of orders from Chinese importers who on the other hand export to Europe, currently our highest demand is actually from China,” explains Ritesh Mehta of Eltweit Agri Exports.
According to Mehta, the prices have also doubled due to the increasing demand locally and internationally. Small scale exporters are exporting as much as 50 tons daily and from the look of things, Mehta says, it will only get better as gulf countries such as Kuwait, Bahrain and Jordan have also developed a big appetite for Indian garlic. Other markets are Germany, Italy and Japan. Traders are optimistic that India has the capacity to meet the global garlic demand, as the crop this year is also good compared to last year.
The big season for garlic in India comes in February to April, while the demand starts to pick up from May to July. “Currently what we are selling is the produce stored from the last big season as the crop comes only once in a year but as much as we aren’t worried over competing for market with China, internal competition is very high, prices are going up every day as there’s a lot of panic buying from some large scale traders,” explains Mehta.
For more information:
Ritesh Mehta
Eltweit Agri Exports (India)