A major Indian table grape exporter has said while the export season into Europe this year started off well, the market deteriorated around half-way through due to heavy competition.

Mahagrapes technical manager Sachin Korde told www.freshfruitportal.com the company had shipped around 5,000 metric tons (MT) against estimates of 4,000MT at the start of the season in January.

"Our quality was very good, but what happened is we overlapped a lot with Chilean and South African produce and prices were affected," he said, adding the company had a focus on the U.K. market.

Mahagrapes also ships to Russia, and although Korde said it had traditionally been a good market for the company, the rubles' fluctuations had caused some problems.

The representative said more of a focus was being put into developing Far Eastern markets, where there is strong growth potential. Around 92-95% of Indian production is consumed within the domestic market.

Mahagrapes is currently trialling some new red varieties, but Korde said they were still in the early stages.

As for the next season, Korde said production was likely to increase but he added the industry was concerned by drought conditions in much of the country.

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