NASHIK, July 6: Export of grapes from Nashik, a major centre of of quality grapes, dropped by almost 50 per cent in the recently concluded harvesting season. Only 475 containers (7,125 tonnes) found market abroad, mainly to Europe and the Gulf as against 871 containers (13,065 tonnes) exported in the 1996 harvest.

The principal reasons for the lacklustre performance was the lack of energy on the side of the exporters owing to substantial losses incurred due to to poor shipment and market infrastructure. According to an exporter, a necessary number of containers -`reefer' containers with refrigeration facilities - were not available, and the electrical facility to sustain the kind of storage required was below adequate levels at the Jawaharlal nehru Port (Nhava Sheva, Mumbai) as it suffers from a paucity of plug points. This led to as much as 12 days delay in transferring the consignments. The result of which was that as the shipments reached the its destination, London, only to find that storage facilities had been overbooked by Chilean exporters, the main competitors of Indian exporters.

Consequently, the condition of a large chunk of Indian table grapes deteriorated and were rejected by European buyers. Those who could sell their produce got meagre returns between four to five pounds per carton of five kilos.

The absence of information of the situation in the international market and the presence of an agent overseas for evolving a marketing strategy, thus further hit the export consignments, majority of which had deteriorated due to inadequate shipment infrastructure.

This year, harvesting started late as unseasonal rains, hailstorms and cloudy atmosphere slowed down the maturing of the berries and affected their sugar content. Trader-exporters backed out to leave only grower-exporters remained in the fray. Those who could manage to grow export quality grapes (berry size 16 to 18 mm, 100 to 125 berries in a bunch and each bunch weighing between 400 to 500 grams) exported their produce and got good returns, upto 21 pounds per carton.

Nashik has 14,600 hectares under grape cultivation, producing over three lakh tonnes per season, amounting to 50 per cent of grape production of Maharashtra and about 20 per cent of the national produce. The general lack of co-ordination among exporters and growers, and the trader led to the formation of the 1993 Grape Exporters' Association of India, to effect and oversee a collective channelisation of exports and solve problems faced by growers and exporters. It was consequently suggested that all exporters from Nashik should adopt uniform packaging and market the corp as `Nashik Grapes', which did not meet any favourable response.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.