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R. Savitha

Pune, April 1 Alphonso, king of fruits, is all set to journey across to tickle the palate of its US, Japan and European countries consumers. Mr Santosh Patil, Deputy General Manager, Maharashtra State Agricultural Marketing Board (MSAMB), told Business Line that the exports of Alphonso and Kesar for the US market are scheduled to leave the Indian shores in the second week of April. Japanese consumers could taste these mangoes by the first week of May. He said the MSAMB is looking at total exports of 500 tonnes of Alphonso and Kesar to the US market. Of this, close to 300 tonnes would be Alphonso and 200 tonnes Kesar. Last year the exports to US were 350 tonnes.

He said a total of 50 tonnes (both mangoes) would be exported to Japan, while noting that it was a difficult market to penetrate. Last year, about 13 tonnes were exported from MSAMB while there were a few private pack houses, approved by APEDA, which catered to the Japanese market. These private pack houses were located in Andhra Pradesh and Nashik, he said. This is the fourth year where mangoes were being exported to the Japanese market.

Mr Santosh said Australia has also opened its doors for the Indian mango for the current season. However, he noted that special efforts would have to be taken by the exporters to cater to this market . He however noted that so far no requirements from the Australian market had come in.

It would also be catering to the European market this year. He said about 150 exporters had registered for the mango exports to the US and Japan, the same as last year. He said there was no increase in the number of registrations as the domestic market offered better rates.

Commenting on the price, he said in the export market, it was looking at about Rs 300-400 a dozen. While in the domestic market, he pointed out that the rates would be on the higher side. The reason, he said was the lower production this year due to less flowering. He added that as it happens every year, there would be a mango festival in May this year which would help the farmers reach out to the customers directly.

More Stories on : Horticulture/Fruits & Vegetables | Maharashtra

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