Apples to India Pt 2
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson with today’s Fruit Grower Report. India’s announcement that retaliatory tariffs on U.S. apples have been dropped, is incredible news for the apple industry.
But USApple President and CEO, Jim Bair says there’s a lot of work to do …
BAIR … “Sales still have to be made. It’s not like India went without apples for five years. There were other countries who were more than happy to swoop in and fill the vacuum that we left. So, now we’ve got to compete against some countries that have a much lower cost of production. Countries like Iran and Turkey and places that aren’t particularly, you know, easy to compete against with their low-cost structures.”
Bair says that won’t be easy, but …
BAIR … “Maybe the really hard work begins now in trying to make the sales and get back in there. But at least the issue is on the table, and we have an opportunity to compete, whereas for the last five years we had not had that opportunity.”
This is especially good news, Bair says for Red Delicious growers …
BAIR … “That apple is sort of slipping in terms of its popularity in the U.S. while other varieties like Honeycrisp and Cosmic Crisp and others have been growing, Red Delicious has been declining. Nonetheless, for a market like India, that would take you know $120-million dollars’ worth of Reds every year, that’s been really a big boost to the industry.”
Bair says we look forward to once again shipping great apples to this valued trading partner.
