Indian fresh produce exporters are waking to the opportunities for their wares in the rapidly emerging Asian markets.
Thailand represents one of many potentially lucrative markets for their produce in the region, and Supavadee Nimmanakait of leading food retailer Tops/Central Food Retail, will speak about the prospects she sees for Indian suppliers at Fresh Produce India 2014, which heads to Pune on 24-26 April.
Nimmanakait heads up produce imports for the retail giant, which buys 95 per cent of its fruit and vegetables directly from qualified sources. Fresh produce is the biggest segment of the fresh food business for the Thai retailer, which won the prestigious 2013 Asia Fruit Award for Produce Retailer of the Year. Table grapes and mangoes, two of India’s top fruit exports, are key sellers on its shelves.
Nimmanakait will join a high-powered panel to discuss how India can diversify its fresh produce exports, which have been heavily focused on Europe and the Middle East to date. Geoff Green, director of group procurement and new business development for Capespan, will lead the session. Expert panellists Ketan Mane, managing director of Vaidika Group, and Azhar Tambuwala, director of Sahyadri Farmers Producer Co, will bring their extensive experience to bear on the discussion.
Delivering the keynote presentation for Fresh Produce India 2014 will be Edwin Katerberg, principle business consultant for Abroader Consultancy. Katerberg, who has 15 years’ management experience in India, much of it in setting up agricultural enterprises and supply chains, will talk about doing business in the country today. He'll address the broad challenges facing the industry, the government and the economy, but also examine the positive drivers, and looks at the role for foreign investors and inputs.
India’s burgeoning demand for imported fruits is giving rise to new sources of supply for the market. One of the fast-emerging products over recent years has been Egyptian citrus. In the final session, Mahmoud El Shishiny, head of marketing and business development and assistant MD for Magrabi Agriculture, one of Egypt’s leading grower-exporters, will look at what is behind the starling growth of the country’s citrus exports. He'll also explain what investments are in the pipeline and tell delegates what India and other international markets can expect to see from Egypt’s citrus sector in the years to come.
Fresh Produce India takes place in Pune, Maharashtra’s cultural capital east of Mumbai, on 24-26 April 2014 at the centrally-located Hyatt Regency Hotel. Organised by Asiafruit in association with The SCS Group, the annual conference and expo event is the place to make and strengthen contacts with the movers and shakers in India’s rapidly growing fresh fruit and vegetable business. Some 250 delegates are expected to attend the event from India and across the world, and from every step of the fresh produce value chain
Previous editions of Fresh Produce India have been held in Hyderabad (2007), Mumbai (2009), New Delhi (2011), Mumbai (2012) and Bangalore (2013).
To view the complete programme with speaker profiles or to register, go to www.freshproduceindia.com
