The Indian apple imports have slowed down significantly due to the situation surrounding the Red Sea, Prashant Gidwani, director at Indian fruit trader Fresh Fruit Alliances Pvt. Ltd states: “The recent Red Sea issues have disrupted trade on one of the world's most important shipping routes. The transit time of the vessels coming from Europe to India are extended by 15-20 days as ships re-route around southern Africa. This has skyrocketed the sea freights and has immensely affected the supply chain. Leaving the market short supplied, in turn resulting in high price levels.”
Supply might be tight, but Gidwani does feel the apples stored in CA chambers will help with the strong demand. “Since we're aware of the short domestic crop in the last season. This scarcity of the domestic apple supply, combined with the Red Sea situation, has collectively resulted in very limited apple supplies. On the other hand, the fruit in the CA rooms that are opening up in the Himachal region are foreseeing strong demands. Although, there is a lot of fruit in the CA rooms in the Kashmir region, that are yet to hit the Indian markets. It will be interesting to see if the market adapts this supply and continues to stay strong or takes a dip.”
As India is a price-driven market, some of the more expensive producers from Europe have lost their market share, Gidwani emphasizes: “After the period of too many apple imports, the demand has gone back to the normal levels. However, now the supply remains affected due to the disruptions at the red sea. India is a price driven market, in the past couple of years countries like Turkey, Iran and Poland have understood and appreciated the market dynamics of India and hence continue to be the leading suppliers to the Indian market. On the other hand, the premium origins such as Italy, Spain and France have lost their market share due to their high prices.”
Looking ahead, the strong demand is not expected to come to an end any time soon. “We expect a strong market with short supply from the northern hemisphere origins and continued demand on the consumer side,” Gidwani concludes.
For more information:
Prashant Gidwani
Fresh Fruit Alliances Pvt. Ltd.
Email: Info@freshfruitalliances.com
www.freshfruitalliances.com