Arrivals here have come down by 60 to 70 per cent this year to three to four trucks a day. Last year, around 10 trucks (each truck contains about 500 boxes) of apples used to arrive everyday from Shimla.

The apple crop in Shimla, especially in the lower heights where majority of apple cultivation takes place, has failed this year and has yielded less than 40 per cent of last year's output.

Anticipating that poor arrivals will not meet the market demand, many fruit merchants, especially in the metros, had imported over 200 tonnes of apples from various countries, including New Zealand and South Africa this year.In June and July the imported apples were sold at a premium in the wholesale market atRs 80 to Rs 85 per kg to meet the off-season demand.

As fresh Indian apples were not available at that time, they were in demand at least in the upmarket segments, even at a retail price of Rs 100 to Rs 120 per kg.

But once seasonal apples started arriving from Shimla in August, there are no takers for imported apples. Nobody seems to want old apples from the cold storage even imported varieties. According to the Chennai Fruits Commission Agents' Association secretary, Mohammad Rafi some apple traders are having no customers despite selling the imported variety at a loss of 30 to 40 per cent at Rs 800 per box.

There are still 400 to 500 unsold boxes in Koyembedu cold storage alone, despite the demand for 200 to 250 boxes per day in the city. People across segments are showing a marked preference for fresh and crisp Royal apples coming from Shimla, even if they are costlier than the imported apples, traders here say.

However, apple prices are expected to drop by 30 to 40 per cent once the apples fromKashmir start arriving from next week, said Rafi. About seven to eight trucks have already arrived.