Consumers in the US would soon be able to enjoy juicy pomegranates, grapes and litchis from India with the former allowing greater market access for these fruits.
Official sources told FE that following a series of meetings during the last few months with US officials on India?s consignments adhering to phytosanitary norms, greater market access is likely for exporters of agricultural commodities.
Commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma, who is on a four-day visit to the US, is likely to press for greater market access through a simpler and uniform quarantine system for increasing exports of Basmati rice, mangoes, pomegranates, litchis and grapes. The minister will meet the US officials on this issue today.
The move assumes significance as many Basmati rice shipments from India were recently stopped at US ports due to ?lack of clarity? on acceptable limits for presence of tricyclazole, a fungicide. Industry sources said US laws do not recognise the minimum presence of any non-registered chemical used as pesticide.
?Tricyclazole is used in many European countries, but it has not been registered in the US, which resulted in about half of Basmati rice consignments not making it to the US market last year,? a rice exporter said. Over the last three years, India has exported close to a lakh tonne of the aromatic, long-grained rice to the US.
On the other hand, exotic mango exports have risen steadily in the last two years following the setting up of irradiation facilities in Nasik. The US is a high-value market for Indian mango exporters as a pack of Indian mangoes this year has fetched $25-29 compared with $5-6 for mangoes from south American countries.
Exotic mangoes such as Kesar and Alphonso have been going to the US since 2007. An official with Agricultural & Processed Foods Export Development Authority (APEDA) recently told FE that the setting up of the second irradiation facility at Navi Mumbai later this year will boost mango exports further.
Mango exports to the US were halted few years ago because of the fear of presence of weevils and fruit flies in the consignments. The United States Food and Drug Administration wanted India to have an irradiation facility.
Importing countries, such as the US and Japan, have mandated irradiation and vapour heat treatment for fruit and vegetable
imports.
?We hope that issues that currently constrain effective market access for Indian agricultural goods, including mangoes, pomegranates and litchis, can be resolved soon,? said a commerce ministry official.
