The Indian grape season is just about to hit its peak and the season will be an interesting one. Now that Australia is open for the Indian grapes and China shows huge potential, it is of great importance that Indian exporters plan their strategies well.
For the Indian company Kalya Exports, the grape season has been going smoothly. Although there has been cold weather for the past three weeks, which had its effect on the produce, the weather seems to be improving very soon, says Amit Kalya, owner of Kalya Exports: “Due to a great start of the growing season we haven’t really had to face any challenges this season. However, some problems could come up next season, as we’ve not had a lot of rain in some growing areas and the water supply may run low. It’s a potential issue, but we could get the rain required before that time, so it’s hard to tell as of now.”
Now that Australia is open for the Indian market, Amit confirms they’ve been keeping a close eye on the developments: “Australia has only been opened since this year, so we’re currently discussing our options with multiple potential clients. China has been open for the last five years and we’ve been sending small volumes over there, but we’re still trying to find the right variety for the Chinese consumers, which has been difficult so far,” Kalya says. “We’ve sent them Jumbo black seedless grapes, and also some RK white seedless ones. The Chinese market has huge potential for us, but we’re also looking towards Canada. We’ve been sending small volumes for about two years and would really like to expand over there.”
The future seems bright for Kalya Exports, as Kalya states his company has set a number of goals for the upcoming year: “We’ve installed a new state-of-the-art packhouse, with a capacity that can handle 120 tons of grapes per day. This comes down to about 10 to 12 containers every day. It also has a precooling facility of 90 ton per cycle. The packhouse should help us expand our existing export capacity and also help us to have better control on fruit destined for export. We hope to handle the packaging of grapes destined for the domestic market in the facility as well. It’s our hope that with all these new improvements, we’ll be able to guarantee high quality grapes. We’re also looking to export about 50% more grapes this season, compared to the last one.”
India as a whole is stepping up its game, says Kalya: “The Indian grape industry is getting much more competitive every year. You can see a huge difference if you compare the industry today with how it was in 2011, 2012 or even 2013. We’re hoping as a company, to be able to grow grapes ourselves. Maybe start with small volumes of new varieties or existing ones. We're also in talks with some foreign breeders for these plans, but they find it difficult to come to India due to various challenges they may face when it comes to intellectual property rights protection.”
As Fruit Logistica is getting close, Kalya has a plan to make the most out of it “Our plan is to focus on getting more business in the Asian market, but also to take advantage of the newly opened Australian market. And as mentioned before, we see Canada as market with great potential for Indian grapes. But I invite anyone at the fair to come pay us a visit, so they can see for themselves what Kalya Export stands for. The door is always open!” Kalya concludes.
