Exporting Pomegranate......
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Pomegranate is slowly gaining popularity worldwide – thanks to the increasing awareness about its health benefits. Alongside, the Government of India is doing its best to promote the fruit internationally and has been encouraging farmers to produce more. Result: Exports from India have been growing steadily.
My mother used to push me to have pomegranates for breakfast with the notion that the red fruit was good for the heart. The cynic in me had always put it down to another of her old wives’ tale. Seems she was not altogether wrong and I owe her an apology! Doctors, of late, are encouraging their patients to eat fresh pomegranates. Here is why – Pomegranates have been found to contain high levels of anti-oxidants, Vitamins A, C & K, folic acid and potassium and eating pomegranate seeds or drinking pomegranate juice can lower the risk of stomach disorders, heart problems, diabetes, cancer and a host of other diseases. Naturally, the world over, pomegranate is fast becoming a popular ingredient in every day diet. The numbers also corroborate the fact that the demand for pomegranates is on the rise. According to a report by Perspective 2020, the global demand for pomegranate has been steadily growing over the last few years with its prices rising at a CAGR of 33% since CY2012. And this has created a great business opportunity for Indian growers and exporters, as pomegranates are native to India with the country being the world’s largest producer of the fruit.
In fact, India’s exports of fresh pomegranates has also been growing at a rapid clip. In FY2017 India exported pomegranates worth $73.16 million, up 140% from the $30.45 million worth it had exported in FY2012. Revealing the reasons how pomegranate exports has become a profitable business opportunity, an increase in awareness about the health benefits of the fruit has been driving its demand across the world.
The reason for the sudden rise in the exports is because other exporting countries produce pomegranate for only 3-4 months in a year, whereas India produces pomegranates all-round-the-year. In the past, India used to fill only the market gaps. But now, foreign buyers are approaching Indian exporters because of the improved fruit quality
Government agencies like Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) www.apeda.gov.in have also introduced several recognised pack houses across the country. “Using such established pack houses helps us maintain a certain level of quality. And even if there is any increase in cost owing to this, it is offset by the benefits,”. The government has established several APEDA Packed houses across the country and by using the facility, exporters can now are never worried about the rejections by the importing countries.
Moreover, bit strict importing norms are only found in USA / UK but exporting in near countries UAE, OMAN, SRILANKA, SAUDI ARABIA, etc eats worst quality of pomegranate which Indian also reject it.
Fig : Worst Quality of Pomegranates are many times demanded by the buyer of UAE, which are of low quality & whitish
But why is the variety important? Exporters explain that this is a business where size plays a huge role. The basic problem is that our fruits are smaller than those grown in other exporting nations. Despite the arils of our pomegranates being of very high quality, importers prefer larger fruits they manytime prefers size then quality.
In fact, accordingly, APEDA has been proactively working towards cutting down usage of chemicals in pomegranates with an aim to increase exports of high-quality pomegranate to EU – a market that has a huge potential. APEDA is also approaching importers in emerging markets like US to boost exports.
Online buying and selling platforms are important because they provide access to more customers of pomegranate. There is no guarantee that all enquiries will convert into business, but the conversion rate of 1 out of 100 is still a healthy number. Then focus should be given more on getting repeat orders from same buyer & rotation goes on and on...... #Relations matter
Generally, Exportation of Pomegranate are done in Carets or Box, one carton contains 4.5 KG of Pomegranate. Startups can set MOQ of 100 Cartons for buyers.
What’s more? The ICAR-National Research Centre on Pomegranate (NRCP) believes that the price of pomegranate in the domestic market will drop in the next few years as India’s production of the fruit increases. In fact, as per National Horticulture Board data, the annual production of pomegranate in FY2016 has gone up 29.98% y-o-y, to 23.06 lakh MT from 17.74 lakh MT in FY2015. NRCP further estimates that exports of the product will increase by 2.5 lakh MT to 3 lakh MT per annum. All these numbers suggest that Indian exporters will scale new heights – sooner rather than later. And encouragingly importers from China and Japan too have now started looking at India as a reliable sourcing destination. With demand and production on the rise and margins set to go up, pomegranate exports does seem like a healthy business to get into.