Indian fresh fruit importer Yupaa is set to receive its very first shipment of Spanish apples this week.
The Mumbai-based company has moved quickly to set up a trial shipment following the signing of an import protocol for Spanish apples to enter India at the beginning of this year.
Yupaa’s head of global procurement Parth Karvat told Asiafruit the company was looking forward to receiving a container load of Spanish Red Chief(Supared) apples.
The apples come from Spanish company Nufri, which has supplied Yupaa with stonefruit in the past.
“They’re a very organised and professional company who export globally and do a lot of business in the Middle East and Asia,” Karvat said. “The shipping time is around 29 days and they’re sending us CA-stored fruit, which is good for long transit, so we’re confident of good outturns.
“We’ll start with this trial shipment, and, provided the results are good, we can work towards commercial shipments.”
The move to bring in Spanish apples completes “a European hat-trick” for Yupaa, which brought Belgian apples and pears into India two years ago and helped to pioneer the introduction of Polish apples to the market last year, according to Karvat.
“We are very happy about this development,” he told Asiafruit. “We’re glad to be at the forefront of market development for European imports.”
Having brought in its first containers of Polish apples last year on a trial basis, Yupaa has ramped up its programme from 66 tonnes to 900 tonnes this year. The company will be hoping to score similar success with Spanish apples
Commenting on the opening of the India market earlier this year, Manel Simon, managing director of Catalan fruit association Afrucat, said it was good news for Spanish producers due to India’s high consumption potential and the fact it is nearer and more accessible than the Chinese market.
India’s apple imports from EU countries have increased significantly over the past year. Data released by ITC Comtrade shows that apple imports from the EU climbed to 18,753 tonnes in 2015 to capture a 9 per cent share of India’s total apple imports. Italy ranked as the leading EU supplier, with 60 per cent of sendings, followed by Belgium (30 per cent) and France (8 per cent).
