In an alarming development for India's apple market, around 20 million boxes of apples have been imported from 30 countries between January and November 2023, causing significant disruptions. This surge has notably affected the demand for Himachal Pradesh's apples, which are stored in Controlled Atmosphere (CA) stores, leading to considerable financial losses for local orchard owners. Countries such as Iran, Afghanistan, New Zealand, Chile, the USA, and Brazil have been identified as major sources of these imports. A particular point of contention is the duty-free entry of Iranian apples via Afghanistan, exploiting the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) agreement, thus undercutting prices of domestic apples.
With the current stockpile of about 10 million boxes of Himachali apples in CA storage facing market challenges, growers are pressing for governmental intervention. They propose a temporary halt on foreign apple imports, an increase in the base import price of apples and a call for a 100 percent duty on all apple imports. These measures aim to safeguard the local apple industry by ensuring competitive pricing for domestically grown produce.
Source: thenewshimachal.com