As more and more Indian consumers include rare and exotic fruits in their diet, the exotic fruit industry is growing at a healthy 15-20% per annum. The increasing popularity of fruits such as Sharon from Spain and horned melon and avocados from New Zealand mean that importers are making more investments in infrastructure.
Even consumers from small places like Raipur are including more exotic produce in their diet, including high-quality avocado which cost Rs 400/piece.
Kiwis have also become most popular in recent years, especially due to the belief that it helps dengue patients recover faster. Tarun Arora, director, IG International, said, "Kiwifruit is growing massively at about 30 per cent per annum."
Arora expects imports of kiwis to grow from about 500 tonnes to 1,000 tonnes per week to 5,000 tonnes a week in another decade. For this reason Arora plans to invest in expanding his cold storage capacity.
As kiwi imported from New Zealand is not affordable by all, importers have turned towards Iran. Kiwifruit imported from Iran is priced at Rs 100/kg (wholesale rate) compared to the Rs 200-250/kg which is how much the best quality kiwis cost.
"Iranian kiwi is cheaper by more than 50 per cent compared to other destinations. The transit time and cost is also less, which made the fruit affordable," said Dinesh Shinde, director, Anusuya Fresh, one of the biggest distributors of avocados in India.
Apart from kiwis, dragon fruits, avocados etc which have become fairly well known, importers are also trying to get newer fruits to the country.
