The first part of the grape season in India has been a bit low, but the pace is expected to pick up soon, says Amit Kalya, managing director of Indian grape exporter Kalya Exports: "The Indian grape season is starting a bit slower than usual, our regular season should start from February on, which is a bit later than last year. At the moment, we've started shipping the grapes to the Russian market and are expected to start the European shipments in the weeks to come. As I said before, once these shipments get going I would classify the regular season to be in full swing."
Overall, the weather conditions have not had a negative impact on the grape production this year, Kalya explains. "Looking at the weather conditions in India during the cultivation of the grapes, we did have some rains over the past two months, however, this wasn't at a level that it would affect the production. As such, production is normal and we should be moving to a healthy grape season this year. Looking at the demand in general, the levels are similar to what they were last year, although we did have a slow start. This is to be expected, as the product quality will be improving in the coming week, reaching the quality that clients require."
Kalya doesn't expect any big surprises for the price levels this season: "The prices for grapes were higher than the general trend for this year. That being said, I don't expect that grape prices will be much different from what they were last season. Especially once the standard volumes are exported in a couple of weeks, we shouldn't see any big surprises. Overall, we're headed towards a healthy grape season in the next couple of months," he concludes.
For more information:
Amit Kalya
Kalya Exports
Tel: +91 989 067 33 21
Email: [email protected]
www.kalyaexports.com
