The Indian grape industry is prepared for higher exports this year, having lifted itself from the doldrums of a growth hormone backlash from the European Union two years ago. Sangle Agro Processing managing director Rajaram Sangle, tells www.freshfruitportal.com how the industry is on a good production path but a complicated market could be damaging.

Sangle says grape shipment inquiries from British and German supermarkets have been good so far this year, but excess supply from competitors may have an impact on the timing of peak shipments.

"Chile looks to be sending a larger crop to Europe and South Africa has been delayed by one or two weeks, and that’s bad news for India," he tells www.freshfruitportal.com.

"We normally start packing in larger volumes in the last week of February, but if there are more grapes from Chile we will start in the first or second week of March.

"It all depends on Chile. If the U.S. dollar is strong and prices are good in the U.S. then perhaps there will be more containers diverted to the U.S. instead of Europe."

Sangle's company is already shipping black grapes to the Middle East and Far East, while growing conditions are looking positive for the Europe-oriented Thompson and Flame Seedless varieties.

"Day temperatures have ranged between 25°C (77°F) and 29°C (84.2°F), sometimes 30°C (86°F), while at night it’s ranged between 12°C (53.5°F) and 18°C (64.4°F)," he says.

"Night temperatures before were between 4°C (39.2°F) and 7°C (44.6°F), but the temperatures gone up and that’s good for berry size and the growth of the grapes."

He says India shipped 1,800 containers to Europe last season and that figure could rise by 25% this year.

"India’s growing capacity is very big. When there was the CCC (clormequat) issue issue in Europe, supermarkets would not buy Indian fruit and shipments fell from 4,500 containers to 1,800 containers.

"Over the last two years Indian exporters and farmers have made a big effort to improve the situation, and if you compare 2011 with 2010 you see there was only one case of CCC.

"This means that Indian farmers and exporters have sought to make a system to grow residue-free grapes and that we have succeeded."

Related story: Overlapping grape expectations in Europe

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