Indian mangoes fetch higher price in US.

New Delhi: India’s mango export to the US and Europe are looking up for the second year in succession because of strong demand and easy availability following start of the sea route. Not only volumes are encouraging, Indian mangoes this year are also fetching higher price.

Last year, Indian mangoes were sold at around $20 per 3.5 kg, but this year already the price has touched $28 for the same quantity. Till now more than 70 tonne of the juicy Kesar and Alphonso varieties have been exported this year at good prices.

In 2009, India exported almost 250 tonne of mangoes, whereas the country has the potential to export almost 500 tonne of mangoes annually.

Last year for the first time, mango consignment was sent through sea route which made it competitive in the US market.

“Due to logistical reason, sending mangoes through the air route was found uneconomical,” an official from the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (Apeda), the nodal agency for canalising all processed food and fruits exports said.

“Air freight is not financially viable because of which Indian mangoes became costlier in the US as against its competitors from South American and other countries,” a mango exporter said.

Besides lower freights rates, export through sea is also economical as larger consignments of 15-20 tonne per container could be moved as against 1-1.5 tonne by air.

Export of mango to the US was halted because of the fear of presence of weevils and fruit fly in the consignments.

The United States Food & Drug Administration wanted India to have irradiation facility to get rid of weevils and fruit fly problem in Indian mangoes instead of the commonly used vapor heat treatment.

India had been pushing for resumption of mango exports to the United States ever since they were banned in 1989 .

The issue was taken up strongly and resolved during the visit of then US president George Bush to India in 2006.

India, last year set up the irradiation facility at Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) at Lasalgaon, Nashik. Lasalgaon facility can handle 500 tonne of mangoes annually.

For boosting mango exports, Apeda has already requested the horticulture departments of mango producing states to set up irradiation centres and seek financial assistance under the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana.

Apeda is looking at increasing India’s presence in the US mango market, which is New Delhi: currently dominated by countries such as Peru, Brazil and Venezuela. US is a high-value market for Indian mango exports.

Meanwhile, overall mango exports from India, the world’s largest producer of the fruit, is expected to increase by 8.5% to over 90,000 tonne in the 2009-10 season on increased demand from the middle east. The total share of mango exports is meager in comparison to the total production of 12.5 million tonne.

Last year, the country exported 83,000 tonne of mangoes, including to the Middle East, the US and the UK.

However, Apeda official said that a large quantity of mango is exported to Bangladesh and other Gulf countries, but they usually do not fetch high price.

Source : Financial Express