The pandemic somewhat created a trade gulf between India and the US for almost two years, but once again, the Indian mango is going places, not just to the US but also Japan and South Korea. In a welcomed development, India has resumed mango exports to the US, with more than 1,000 tonnes of Alphonso, Kesar and other varieties of mangoes being exported to the latter. Similarly, the shipments to South Korea also resumed after a two year gap, and for the first time, the Indian mangoes were exported to Japan.
According to sources, Indian Alphonso and Kesar mangoes have garnered a premium of USD 9 and USD 7 per kilogram, respectively, in the US market this year, compared to USD 3 to USD 4 per kilogram earned by sales of mangoes sourced from other countries.
Mangoes exported from India to the US undergo an irradiation process, wherein the fruit is exposed to gamma radiation which kills insects or pesticides inside the fruit. Due to the pandemic, the US officials could not visit India for two years, which halted India’s mango exports to US. However, under a phyto-sanitary framework agreement signed between the Indian Agriculture Ministry and the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service earlier this year, mango exports from three irradiation facilities at Vashi (Navi Mumbai), Nasik and Bengaluru have commenced.
Agricultural and Processed Food Products Development Authority (APEDA) is aiming to increase India’s presence in the US mango market, which is currently mostly dominated by countries such as Peru, Brazil and Venezuela. They’ve organised a series of mango promotion programme in Dubai, Bahrain, Denmark, San Francisco, Turkey, Afghanistan and Germany. APEDA organised a mango festival in Bahrain, which exhibited 34 varieties of mangoes from east Indian states at Bahrain’s Al Jazira group supermarket
India has, for the first time, started exporting mangoes to Japan, with an initial shipment of around 50 tonne. APEDA, in collaboration with the Indian embassy in Japan, held a mango promotion programme at the Japanese supermarkets. Similarly, mango exports to South Korea also commenced this season after a gap of two years.
A Malaysian delegation has inspected the irradiation facilities in Mumbai, Nashik and Bengaluru, and assured imports of mango varieties such as Alphonso, Kera and Banganpalli from the next season.
Stating that India has received market access from Argentina for mango exports, M Angamuthu, Chairman, APEDA said “Our thrust has been to export various unique varieties of mangoes sourced from various states to more than 50 countries”.
India is the world’s largest producer of mangoes, followed by China. However, it exports less than 1% mainly because of lack of sea container protocol and air freights are expensive. Uniqueness of Indian mangoes is its sweetness and smaller size.
