Tariff rates will not be increased on Indian apple imports, according to the country’s union cabinet minister of commerce and industry, Anand Sharma.
With apple imports rising by close to 76,000 tonnes over the past five years, Indian growers have been seeking protective measures to ensure the future of the domestic industry.
However, Sharma revealed the current duty imposed, 50 per cent, is the maximum permitted by a General Tariff Agreement with the World trade Organisation (WTO).
“The scope for a further increase in tariff rates, without further negotiation under the WTO regime, seems unlikely at present,” Sharma wrote in a reply to Virender Kashyap, MP from Shimla.
Kashyap had questioned Sharma about the impact imports were India’s apple production.
Sharma downplayed suggestions the domestic industry was struggling.
“The average per kg import price of apple during last three years was much higher than that of per kg export price for the corresponding period,' he explained.
“The quantity of domestic apple production has gone up from 1.7m tonnes during 2009-10 to 2.2m tonnes during 2011-12.
“The above facts do not suggest that the domestic apple industry is facing any adverse competition from the imported apples.”
China and the US remain the largest exporters of apples to India, shipping over 60 per cent of the 174,494 tonnes imported by the country between April 2012 and February 2013.
