It’s a second bite at the cherry, for growers from the US betting on a fruitful trade with India. With India removing the fumigation requirement on cherries shipped from the US, the Northwest Cherry Growers (NWCG) are hopeful of growing their market presence in India rapidly.

On Tuesday, as the NWCG, a trade association based in the US, launched its promotion campaign in India to introduce this summer’s crop of the juicy red fruit in retail stores here. Ron Verdonk, Minister-Counselor for Agricultural Affairs, Embassy of the United States of America, commented how earlier too they had access to the Indian market, but the fumigation protocol caused distribution issues for the Pacific Northwest cherries.

Fumigated cherries tend to soften quickly thereby affecting shelf-life and onward distribution to smaller towns, where according to Sumit Saran, In-Country Marketing Representative of NWCG, there is now growing consumer interest in exotic imported fruit. He described how even places like Dhanbad are showing interest in products like blueberries and cherries. The Northwest cherries are currently retailing in the Indian market for ₹1,500 a kg though in the next few weeks as more volumes come in, prices are likely to come down, said Saran. July is the start of the season for the US cherries which retail till August end and so far 4,400 boxes each of 10 kg have been shipped to India.

Rosy outlook for apples

Meanwhile, Verdonk was also pretty gung-ho about the apples and walnuts trade from the US picking up in India this year after the announcement that the retaliatory tariffs on these will be ended during the recent visit of Prime Minister Modi to the US. “Come September and we will have a level playing field for Washington apples again,” said Verdonk.

In 2017, India was the second biggest export market for Washington Apples, raking in $120 million for the 1,400 odd growers of the fruit. However, in 2019, India imposed retaliatory custom duties on 28 American products including apples, walnuts, chickpeas and lentils. This dealt a body blow to Washington Apples which faced an additional 20 per cent duty (added to the existing 50 per cent) and resulted in only $1 million worth of the fruit being exported to India last season.  India is a big consumer of apples, and imported a total of 3,60,000 tonnes last year. “The opportunity in India is immense,” said Verdonk. 

He anticipates that the tariffs will be lifted coinciding with the apple harvest in the US and will bring cheer to the growers in Washington.  

Also read: Samunnati facilitates export of 275 tonnes of grapes to Netherlands

Nutritionist Kavita Devgan on the nutritional benefit of cherries
Video Credit: Chitra Narayanan

During the cherry promotion event, nutritionist Kavita Devgan talked about the nutritional benefit of the stone fruit, which she said had a low glycemic index (20-25) and thereby was diabetic friendly. She also dwelled on the fact they have anthocyanins which helps in lowering blood pressure and natural melatonin that promotes better sleep.  

And to drive home the point that there is a lot more to cherries than sprinkling on top of desserts, celebrity Chef Vicky Ratnani rustled up savoury delicacies that heroed the fruit — a millet cherry khichdi and a charcoal grilled slider accompanied by a tangy cherry sauce.