Australian walnut exporters will be hoping to emulate the success of their almond counterparts in India, after securing a trade deal with the South Asian nation.
The two countries signed off on a market access agreement today (6 February), with trade set to formally commence once the import conditions are officially gazetted by Indian authorities. In the interim, 10 trial shipments of walnuts can be sent to India.
“Around 1.4bn people live in India – more than 50 times the number of people in Australia – so it’s a huge market we’ve accessed for our walnut growers,” said Australian Minister for Agriculture, David Littleproud.
“India is already a large export market for Australian almonds and there is huge potential for our other nuts to be exported there also.”
Australia exported over A$22.5m worth of walnuts around the world in 2017/18, positioning it as the country’s third most profitable tree nut crop behind almonds and macadamias.
“We initially spoke to industry through the Hort Innovation Australia prioritisation process and industry nominated walnut market access [to India] as a key priority,” said Littleproud.
“Since then our agriculture counsellor in India has worked with the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the walnut industry to get this access.”
