The Indian fresh fruit and vegetable business is characterised by big challenges and even bigger opportunities – and local and international players are acting on them. That much was very clear from Fresh Produce India, which took place this week in Mumbai.
Some 240 delegates from 19 different countries took part in the three-day conference event, which was held at the deluxe ITC Maratha Hotel in Mumbai.
The growing interest in India among global fresh produce players was underlined by the profile of delegates. The event attracted key fresh produce suppliers from across the world, with South Africa and Europe particularly well represented.
Buyers also came from far and wide, including North America and Russia – and initial feedback suggested that they were impressed what they achieved. “The networking has been excellent,” said Bill Gerlach of leading US importer and distributor Melissa’s. “I’ve collected as many business cards here as I do at some of the biggest trade shows.”
Univeg highlights India’s importance
Kicking off the conference with a focus on trends in the global fresh produce market, Benedict Horsbrugh of Univeg, one of the world’s leading fresh produce groups, explained why India is becoming more important to the industry worldwide.
While the global fruit and vegetable trade grew four-fold between 1990 and 2009, Horsbrugh noted that consumption in Europe is actually declining, and efforts to combat that trend are having limited success. “There is not much growth left in the European market. We’re going to have to look elsewhere for real growth,” he said. “The European trade doesn’t really understand Asian markets but we can’t afford not to with so many consumers in the region. For Univeg, there’s a big question mark in India. We need to understand your country much better."
Big challenges remain
Despite India’s huge potential as a fresh produce supplier and consumer market, major challenges remain, and the on-the-ground realities of the country’s creaking supply chain were well documented by Dr Sukphal Singh of the Indian Institute of Management, who opened the second session entitled ‘Farming for the future’.
Farm units are tiny in India, with around two-thirds of plantings being less than 2ha and rain-fed, said Singh. Technology and knowledge transfer is often non-existent, wholesale markets are failing to deliver, quite literally, and are in dire need of reform, and retailers have not invested enough in building linkages with farmers. “Many of them have not been able to sell `produce` well enough, and if you can’t sell well you can’t buy well,” he said.
The multi-layered Indian supply chain contributes to huge produce losses and lack of transparency, according to Singh, who detailed the need for deeper and more far-reaching reforms to government policies.
Farming for the future
Such major challenges also represent sizeable opportunities, however, and delegates heard how local and international players are working to develop a range of solutions, including the world’s largest retailer.
William Savage of Bharti Walmart explained how the cash and carry chain was bringing the learnings of Walmart’s successful direct farming programme in Central America to India, and revealed the retailer's plans to buy directly from 35,000 small and medium agricultural businesses in India by 2015.
Delegates also received an insight into an exciting agricultural partnership between India and Israel, which is training some 15,000 Indian farmers with a focus on quick transfer of applied research, knowledge and technologies. “This is not about high-tech solutions, but small steps that provide a big jump towards modern agriculture,” said Uri Rubinstein of the Israel Embassy in New Delhi.
Role for retail training
At the other end of the chain, Indian retailers can also apply a number of basic learnings to vastly improve their fresh produce offer, as John Baker of Produce Marketing Australia detailed in a session on effective produce marketing. Baker, who has delivered retail training programmes in India and a number of other developing markets for the Washington Apple Commission, looked at best practice in a range of areas, from cleaning and sanitation to lighting and refrigeration in-store. “Retailers on the programme have found the value in the training not only through increasing sales, but also through increasing prices,” he observed.
Receptive consumers
That Indian consumers repond to branding and quality is underlined by the performance of fresh fruit imports. Since opening up little more than 10 years ago, India's fruit import market has grown rapidly to reach almost 180,000 tonnes as of July 2011, with apples leading the way despite a 50 per cent-plus tariff, said David Williams of the US Consulate in Mumbai. “US fresh fruit exports to India hit almost US$100m in 2011 and this market is one of our great success stories. It’s now our third largest apple export market."
While India’s apple market has traditionally been heavily dominated by Red Delicious it is also now looking to other varieties, according to Pipfruit New Zealand’s Peter Beaven, who revealed how Royal Gala was catching on and how Pink Lady could soon follow. “There is a real willingness among Indian consumers to try something new,” he said. “A good branding strategy works really well here.”
That growing consumer market is also drawing more attention from Indian suppliers, who are increasingly finding they can earn better returns domestically than they can in export markets. Nevertheless, good opportunities remain for India to diversify beyond its established export markets in Europe and the Middle East, as presentations on the Russian and Malaysian markets from Elena Borodina of Fresh Direct Produce and Retna Malar of All About Fresh Produce in the final session revealed.
Quality networking
As well as taking part in the six conference sessions, delegates were able to join a tour to Mumbai’s Vashi wholesale market, and organised retail visits to Crawford Market and to a gourmet Foodhall store run by Future Group.
Delegates enjoyed ample opportunities to network and do business between the conference sessions at Fresh Produce India Expo, which featured nine exhibitors promoting a range of products and solutions. Indeed, both local and international delegates remarked on the quality of the networking. “Fresh Produce India was awesome; the response was really nice,” said Tarun Arora of major importer IG International. “All my suppliers were very happy.”
