The overall apple production in India this year is comparatively higher than last year, reported Zahoor Ahmad Shah, co-founder of eAgriMandi. eAgriMandi is a company established in India that strives to help growers to be able to sell their produce. Weather conditions in Jammu and Kasmir this year suggest that apple crop will be moderate-to-good as J&K has received a mixed bloom and scattered hail and rain events. India’s total output in 2024/25 is forecast at around 2.55 million tons, which is about 6 per cent higher compared to last year.
According to the co-founder of eAgriMandi, there’s been a shift in cultivation towards Gala varieties, among other options. The Delicious group, consisting of Red, Royal, and improved strains, remains a large base in Kashmir and continue to dominate the apple market in Kashmir. Market trends this year suggests a rapid shift to early colouring, high-return cultivars, such as Gala strains, Red Velox, Jeromine, Super Chief, and Scarlet Spur on M9 rootstock. The rapid shift can be attributed to earlier harvest, better colour uniformity, and higher pack-outs.
Pointing at the challenges that arise due to imports of apple Shah said that most of the apple is for domestic consumption and the real competition comes from imports. Driven by a bigger all-India crop and steady retail offtake domestic demand remains healthy. Shah stressed over dealing with the challenges of imports as India is set to import about 600,000 tons in 2024/25, mostly from Turkey, Iran, South Africa, USA, affecting the late-season pricing for domestic fruit. Markets fear about the increased rates due to heavy import duty of 50%, with a minimum import price of 0.58USD/kg.
Shah also presented the figure of apple exports. Though India exports very small quantity of apple as most of the apples from J& K goes only to Indian metros such as Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Pune, and Hyderabad, via the big mandis. 1.31 million tons moved outside J&K in 2023-24, showing strong domestic demand. In international market India exports apple only to Nepal, Bangladesh, the UAE, and the Gulf countries. India is the net importer of Apple.