According to Tarun Arora of the Indian import company IG International, 2016 has been a successful year. While the Indian economy had been strained due to the demonetization of 500 and 1000 rupee bills that had been implemented by the Indian government, IG International managed to achieve 25% of sales growth. “We’ve been quite prominent in tapping new markets in eastern and northern regions of India. We’re going to follow this up in 2017 by setting up facilities in Bangalore and by investing in the infrastructure of our company. This will allow us to import higher volumes,” explains Tarun Arora.
In spite of the demonetization, all product categories of IG International, like apples, cherries, berries and dragon fruit have seen growth in the double digits.
IG International is working with a large and diverse amount of producing countries, such as US, China, Chile and the Netherlands. The most important import products by far are apples. He also said that there are some distinct differences between the major exporting countries.
“China is an important exporter due to price. The scale of Chinese production is immense, which allows for cheaper products in the global market. The main characteristic of Washington is the quality of its apples and the strength of the US promotions. Other countries like Belgium and Italy are smaller, but are also quite aggressive in their promotions. These countries are putting a lot of effort in establishing themselves. Another important country for Indian import is Chile. Chile has a long history supplying produce to India. Export companies in Chile are quite familiar with the Indian market. They know all the important Indian importers.
Club varieties have had a large impact on the fruit sector of India. Indian consumers are encouraged to try out new apple varieties. Two of the more popular club varieties are Modi and Evelina, while traditional varieties like Royal Gala are also still going strong. The Pink Lady has only just started to come onto the scene.
Online retail has been on the rise in India. However, the online retail of fruit and vegetables requires more market penetration. The majority of Indian consumers still prefer traditional stores for their fruits and vegetables. However, the Indian population is massive. Even though only a small part of the Indian consumers make use of online retail, a small part in India still translates to an economically viable online retail sector.
“The organic market in India is still a niche market,” says Arora.“This market takes time to develop. Organic produce is more expensive than the average, and rather more a luxury item than a staple product.”
In the first quarter of 2017, the Indian market will be marred by the demonetization. There simply is less cash circulating within the economy, making it harder to sustain any significant financial growth. Apart from these current issues, the situation for the Indian market is continuously improving. Logistics and infrastructure are getting better due to initiatives by the government.
“We’re very pleased with 2016. The first quarter of 2017 won’t be in line with our success of the last year due to the demonetization process, but other than that we have to wait to see how things turn out,” concludes Arora.
For more information:
Tarun Arora
IG International
Tel: +91-22-66272000
Mob: +91-9819248884
Fax: +91-22-66272084
Email: [email protected]
www.iginternational.net
