Although there are a lot of locally grown apples available on the Indian market, demand for Polish Gala apples is quite strong, says Mr. Kamaruddeen, managing director for Aeden Fruits. “This year we have an abundance of Indian apples. But despite the abundance of crops, the inferior quality of the Indian harvests has resulted in a big demand for imported goods. With Christmas just around the corner, the popularity of Polish Gala apples is boosted by the bountiful crop this year in Poland and the reduced crop of Italian Gala this year. We exclusively source from Basstion Fruit SP Z.O.O. in Poland. It has been many years since associated with them.”
Mr. Kamaruddeen states that the cost of production for Polish apples has been a challenging factor, this has been overcome thanks to their good relationship with their Polish source of the apples. “The cost of apples from Poland has been impacted by the conflict between Ukraine and Russia. The close relationship we have with Basstion Friuit, which has assisted us in maintaining a sustainable supply by controlling all expenditures, makes the situation tolerable. But overall this year hasn’t been very challenging overall, smooth sailing across the board.”
Last year, the prices of logistics were a challenge for both importers and exporters in India. According to Mr. Kamaruddeen the costs for transport have not been that high this time around: “Logistics have not been an issue this season, and the scarcity of reefer boxes is not a cause for concern compared to previous year. We’re working with all the major steamer agents, which enables us to do our tasks on schedule and without any delays. And for our inbound logistics, we have our own reefer trucks, so we have complete control over that aspect.”
“Energy prices are challenging, even though supply has to continue with huge volumes of crops. The decrease in volume of Italian Gala is favourable for the demand of Polish Apples in India, so the apples from Poland are coming in fast. The demand and supply are basically Yin and Yang right now, because the new import season is just getting started. We also have local production and our own cold storage units to keep it all as fresh as possible,” Mr. Kamaruddeen concludes.
