Indian grocery chain Godrej Nature’s Basket will run a promotion of US fruit over the course of the next two weeks in cooperation with a number of US industry bodies.
The promotion kicked off yesterday afternoon in the chain’s Delhi and Mumbai stores, and was opened by Donald Lu, US Deputy Chief of Mission, reported the IANS.
“We are proud of the high quality of American food products and we are happy to be able to bring more of America’s delicious, healthy food options to Indian consumers,” Mr Lu said.
The promotion is a collaboration between Godrej Nature’s Basket and the Washington Apple Commission, the California Prune Board, the California Table Grape Commission, the California Tree Fruit Agreement, the Southern United States Trade Association and several individual US companies.
“We have witnessed a great demand for high quality food products in India. The average consumer is showing increasing interest in food products from the US,” said the US Embassy’s Minister Counsellor for Agricultural Affairs Holly Higgins.
The promotion will run until 5 September.
India has proven to be a quickly-growing market for US apples, particularly Red Delicious. The nation rose from Washington’s ninth largest export market in 2007/08 to the fifth in 2008/09.
The upcoming 2010/11 Washington apple season is expected to be record-breaker, forecast at a crop of just under 108,820 cartons (19 kg).
That increased volume will mean smaller individual apples; exactly what the Indian market is asking for.
Californian grapes are also seeing increased sales in India as a result of domestic production growth, according to the Californian Table Grape Commission.
“As India mostly grows green grapes, the country imports red, black and blue California table grapes for its exotic fruit market that is growing rapidly,” a Commission spokesman told the IANS.
