India has reopened its market to Australian kiwifruit following an agreement on an import protocol, six years after access was lost to Australian exporters.
The new protocol, in effect already, comes just in time for the Australian kiwifruit season, which is set to begin in April.
“There are no difficult conditions in the protocol. We need phytosanitary certificates, and we need to inspect for snails and scale, but that’s all from what I know of it,” explained Jamie Craig of Bunbartha Fruit Packers, Australia’s largest kiwifruit exporter. “It’s a good, workable protocol.”
Mr Craig told Fruitnet.com he had quoted importers in India already and was waiting on responses, but the market showed significant promise in the longer term.
“The potential is there,” he said. “India has a lot of mouths to feed, and it’s a market that already eats kiwifruit. It’s a huge market.”
Cold chain infrastructure is likely to be the biggest limitation, according to Mr Craig.
“The biggest issue for us is how they handle the fruit when it gets to India. They have a billion people, but a significantly smaller portion of that population is accessible to importers because of the logistics.”
Australia lost kiwifruit access to India in 2004, when the country changed its import conditions. The new protocol is part of a bilateral agreement covering kiwifruit, fish and fish products.
The new market access will be backed up by an approaching Australian kiwifruit season looking positive for both volumes and fruit quality and size.
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