Australia baking apple pie for India

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Hyderabad, May 15: In a bid to woo the Indian consumers, the Australian Trade Commission (Austrade), an Australian federal government agency to promote exports, is launching a major campaign to promote Australian apples in India. The promotional support programme under the banner, Australiafresh, has been developed by Horticulture Australia Ltd to assist the identification and promotion of fresh Australian apples and other horticultural produce in export markets.

Australiafresh will kick start from Chennai on May 16 and is expected to cover all major Indian cities. According to Austrade officials, although Australian apples are available in the Indian markets, the objective of this campaign is to promote them in super markets and other wholesale markets.

It is learnt that Australia has a clean environment and is virtually free from all major plant and animal diseases.

An interesting aspect is that the apples reach the Indian consumers farm fresh and not cold-stored unlike apples from other countries. Perhaps, the reason is because of its location in the southern hemisphere and their arrival after the end of Indian season, officials explained. India is Australia’s largest export market for apples and the promotion period is expected to go on till end of July 2005.

Horticulture in Australia is a $6.4-billion industry comprising fruits, vegetables, nuts, nursery, extractive crops and cut flowers.

Total horticultural exports during 2002-03 was about $778 million and 20% of total employment in agriculture being within horticulture. With the opening of the Indian market to Australian apples, exports have increased steadily. India is one of the preferred export destinations for Australian apples. The growth trend in Australian exports to India has increased from 3,840,418 kg in the year 2000 to 6,599,192 kg in the year 2003.