Cos queue up for kesar mangoes

RAJKOT: The world is tasting what might be the new flavour of Gujarat’s business. Mango orchards in Talala, near Rajkot, are being frequented by executives from top-notch companies. Their agenda: Send samples of the region’s kesar variety of mangoes to various countries and await an avalanche of export orders.

Heavy export orders are expected from Japan, the US and countries in Europe if the samples are found acceptable. With the current retail boom in major Indian cities and organised formats taking shape in metros, corporates see a huge margin in the fruits segment.

The first ones to have taken the dusty roads to the orchards are retail biggies like Reliance, Bharti, Tata and Godrej. The corporates are ready to take a big bite of the king of fruits once they get an approval from other countries.

The demand for kesar mangoes has shot up after the farmers improved the quality this season. Improvement has been chiefly on features like taste, size and colour — a pre-requisite for the export market.

To help the companies’ ambitious plans, the prices of the kesar mangoes have stabilised at much lower levels.

Prices of the fruit, which were hovering around Rs 350 per 10 kg owing to low production, have now stabilised at Rs 250 per 10 kg. Now, aware that their produce can fetch higher prices, the farmers are busy chalking out their marketing plans.

Apart from retail companies, local FMCG companies of Maharashtra too are eyeing the value-added produce. As per market sources, Reliance and Bharti have already bought and dispatched about 40 containers (1 container equals 10 tonnes) of kesar mangoes recently to overseas countries, mainly Japan and the US, besides some countries in Europe and the Gulf, apart from China.

The companies buying quality stock from the farmers’ doorsteps are offering better prices than the local market. Although, the kesar mango production is estimated to be 35% less than last year’s, the demand for the commodity has been increasing by over 50%. It’s a win-win situation for the farmers too as they now have been given the option to negotiate for prices on a periodic basis.

Says president of the Talala market yard, Vallabh M Kothani: “Companies are giving better margins than any other market which has accelerated the farmers’ overall income.” In future farmers will take all steps to grow standard quality.