The Indian grape season has come to an abrupt end, a sudden rise in temperatures between 15-20th April forced most producers to stop harvesting. Some packing is still taking place but that fruit is for the Middle East and SE Asia, the EU & UK having shut down on 20th April.
Vikram Puri from Mahindra, said the last grapes were being harvested in Nashik and Sangli, "We were expecting to go on a bit longer than this but the sudden rise in temperatures of up to 38 - 40 °C started resulting in high sugars, berry drop and very low availability of quality fruit and this had forced us to stop harvesting."
He explains that there are still many containers of Indian grapes on their way to Europe, "These last few weeks of the season are always very busy with high volumes being packed."
The EU and UK markets started strongly this year but then saw a reduction in prices, according to Mr Puri both markets are now stable. This season India will send a total of 4702 containers or approximately 45000 MT to the EU and 15000 MT to the EU. Mahindra will send 8800 MT to the EU & UK and another 500 MT to SE Asia, Middle East etc.
Mahindra saw a 17% increase in export volumes this year despite the hailstorm and rain damage in late March which impacted approximately 20% of the exportable fruit.
