At the end of April the largest Belgian economic mission ever went to India. A small delegation of people from the fresh produce sector also joined, including Jeroen Buyck from export company Calsa. He definitely saw opportunities in India, although he says not too exaggerate these. “Currently Belgian apples are already being exported to India. They are fairly well received there.”
Long transit times
Buyck continues: “We can only transfer if there are no other or cheaper apples on the market. That means we have to wait till after the season of the Indian apple, and only if our prices are interesting compared with those of American, Italian and Chilean apples. Furthermore, we get quite some competition from China. It is important to send good, strong, and as red as possible apples, for the products are in transit for long periods, and there is hardly any infrastructure to cool them. All fruit is actually locally sold without cooling, so if a batch is not good, it will be rotten within a few hours, especially because of the warm and humid climate. From the own harvest in India, at least 40 per cent is lost due to a lack of cooling.”
India invests in cooling
Buyck says more investments in cooling are starting to be made now. “That will also mean that they can extend their own apple season. The season for import fruit will shrink a little because of this, and we will have to wait longer for our season to start in India. Prices of our apples were also low this season and last season, which means prices are automatically good. I hope that, in future, we can export further as well with higher apple prices, and that India will not pull out then, because that is not entirely clear yet.”
Conference
Buyck also sees opportunities for pears in the long-term. “But then, just as with many other new markets, we will have to familiarise people with our Conference pear; the green and bronze pear with the hard and crunchy bite. I believe we should be able to do this, but we will have to make an effort together, and have some patience. Moreover, people in India eat many apples, but few pears, in general, they are far less familiar with them. The advantage is, therefore, that we have a good product, and that there is a large market potential, so even if Conference pears become a niche product there, it could still become a large export market. Because this will take time, I think we will still feel the Russian embargo, and our European politicians should make a serious attempt at conciliation with Russia.”
Vegetables, niche market
Buyck sees a smaller market for vegetables. “Supermarkets are limited, and they now only serve the top layer of the population. Those supermarkets might be willing to stock some vegetables from Belgium or the Netherlands, but we will not be able to immediately sell most of it in India, if only because we would have to send everything by air freight. Furthermore, they have their own, qualitatively very good, vegetables. But most important: protocols are not yet in order, so we cannot enter with our vegetables yet, even if we wanted to. So there is a lot to be done here. Yet I think we must do this, we cannot afford to skip markets and leave opportunities.”
Growing
Buyck also has some interesting information about the country: “India can actually not be called a country, but rather it is a continent. About 1.2 billion people live there now, and the population will grow by 400 million people in the coming years. That is a great deal, considering the US has 310 million people, Europe 520 million, and the Russian Federation 140 million. The average population is 25 years old. Soon, every month 1 million people will turn 18, so it will be an enormous challenge to provide jobs for one million people every month. On the other hand, an incredible number of consumers will join, people who also need sustenance. Moreover, 80 per cent of the population is vegetarian.”
