Poor demand pulls down orange prices by 40% in Maharashtra

Slackening demand from other parts of the country and drop in exports have pulled down orange prices by around 40% in Maharashtra this season.

Prices have fallen to R8,000-14,000 per tonne as against R15,000-32,000 per tonne for the same period last year, MahaOrange  chairman A Gharad said.

Usually by December oranges are harvested in most orchards. However, this year despite a good crop, farmers have been holding on hoping for a better price, Gharad said.

According to officials, no exports of oranges are happening to neighbouring countries, including Bangladesh and Nepal.

This year, MahaOrange — an apex body of Maharashtra’s orange growers cooperative societies — has been attempting a pilot project with some 100 farmers to push exports through a new export facilitation centre. However, this is likely to begin in the next season of Mrig  Bahar, which starts in March, Gharad told FE.

“The demand from places such as Delhi and Uttar Pradesh has been less this year and the markets in the south seek green variety of orange.  Exports have also dropped due to the poor quality of fruit like every year. The fruits are not uniform in colour and have a loose skin reducing their shelf life,” he said.

Maharashtra State Agri-produce Marketing Board (MSAMB) has promoted MahaOrange  to boost production, processing, marketing and exports of oranges. MahaOrange is expected to lead and co-ordinate efforts to promote and market oranges on the lines of MahaGrape, MahaMango and MahaBanana. The farmer group has been attempting to push exports of around 10 tonne to neighbouring countries including Bangladesh.

Gharad says these oranges have a shelf life of just 2 days making it difficult to sustain exports. Moreover, prices in the markets of Pakistan and Nagpur are nearly the same and therefore farmers have a tendency to look at the domestic market which is much easier to service, he said.

While the A-grade oranges command prices to the tune of R15,000 to R25,000 per tonne, the poor quality oranges are available at throwaway prices and are usually picked up by good processing units, Gharad said.

The Mrig crop (monsoon blossom), which matures in February-March, has great potential for export since arrivals of mandarin fruit in international market are very less during this period, he said.