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| The happy duo from Apeda - Tarun Bajaj (D.G.M.) and Pravin Gupta (G.M.) |
Another person who was beaming with joy was Mr. Pravin
Gupta, GM of APEDA Several members of the mandatory
export body for agricultural produce exports took part
under the aegis of this Association. 'Our exporters
are having a fantastic response,' he informed delWine
during the short visit to the country pavillion. Echoing
the sentiments was his colleague, Tarun Bajaj, the DGM..
'If the producing exporters can give the quality and
quantity they promise-the market is ready to accept
Indian products now with open arms. We have had a great
response to the juice promoting we have undertaken here.'
The duo was less than enthusiastic about wine producers
who are also members of the Association. They are disappointed
with the less than lukewarm response they receive from
them, despite heavy promotional efforts by APEDA. Unless
there is a distinct change in the attitude of the producers,
they are not excited about helping them in exports.
The distinct change will perhaps take place only when
the producers are stuck with surplus stocks. Besides,
companies like Indage and Sula have export strategy
and plans of their own. In the current market scenario,
Indian producers are not in the export mode.
Exports by German producers
Of course, the 1100 odd German exhibitors are also
looking for the export of their products. CMA- the Central
Marketing Association, the statutory body that helps
them with export promotion is very excited about the
opening of the Indian market. Said Axel Wildner, Export
Manager of CMA for all non-EU countries, ' India is
a very important emerging market and we are very excited
about its immense potential.' As a part of the ongoing
efforts, CMA will take part in Anuga Food World in Mumbai
in November, followed by another important food and
wine show, IFE-India in Delhi in December.
The show was reportedly visited by about 2000 Indians
looking for food imports, technical collaborations and
franchises etc. Two of such interested and interesting
people I met were Vijay Kumar, Head of International
Business and Gurinder Singh of Reliance Retail in Delhi.
Scouting for international food products, Vijay Kumar
told delWine they were keen to source frozen foods.
Gurinder shared an interesting piece of statistics.
He informed us that Reliance Retail alone had sold more
imported apples than the combined sale of all Indian
apples last year- sounds incredible, doesn't it? Reliance
should be happy that the Indian apple orchards are not
owned by the Indian politicians. Else the current import
duty of 50% on apples might have been increased to 150%
to give a 'level playing field' to the Indian farmers.
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| Apple of the Eyes- Rashmi Uday
Singh |
One wonders if the duo was able to meet or visit the
huge apple packing co-operative Obst Von Boden See,
near Meersburg on the biggest lake of Europe, on the
south-west border of Germany, which I visited after
Anuga. The CMA organised visit took four journalists
to the 20-tonne a day co-operative which deals in many
varieties including golden delicious. The apples costing
between 35-70 Euro cents can give good value for money
for varieties like Golden because it is not popular
with Germans. Their apples are immensely popular in
supermarkets like Aldi, Metro etc. and they claim very
competitive prices.
No other fair for food & beverages attracts so
many participants from other nations like Anuga. It
presents the latest sector trends. All of the relevant
new products and concepts are presented and discussed
here.
Anuga is a show no stakeholder in food can afford to
miss.
Phtos By Subhash Arora
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