Monsoons play truant, apples fail to blush

Pune: Apples may be more affordable this year, but deficient rainfall has robbed the fruit of much of its crunchiness, explaining the fall in prices despite lower supply.

The best quality apples are available at aboutRs. 1,500 (20 kg box), compared with Rs. 1,700 or so last season, even as the output has fallen by about a third.

Himachal Pradesh, the country's top apple growing state, is likely to produce 500-540 million kg of the fruit this year, compared with 700 million kg last year.

“Because of the water stress, apples could not have adequate acid reserves, leading to fading of colour, more rusting, less juice and a smaller size,“ said Ravinder Chauhan, president of All India Apple Growers' Association.

September is usually the peak for the apple harvest reason, that started a month ago and will continue till November. Fruits from the lowest heights of the Himalayas are harvested first. Growers expect prices to firm up when apples from higher altitude regions -at about 7,000 feetcome in before mid-September.

“Apple prices have declined by Rs.300 per box last week. We expect ` them to improve when the fruits from higher slopes will be harvested,“ said Chauhan.

Ashok Sharma, CEO of Mahindra & Mahindra's Agri and Allied Business said, “The overall production this year is likely to be 5 lakh tonne as against 7 lakh tonne last year. This is primarily because of deficient rainfall. Adding to this, .While 60,000 million tonne is expected to be CA (controlled atmosphere) stored owing to high procurement prices, stored apples sales may not move at a faster pace and storage apples liquidations will continue till AprilMay.“

Mahindra & Mahindra is working with 250 growers to procure Procurement prices are also 6070% higher on account of shortfall in production Small fruit count is almost 60% of the total production compared to 25% last year about 3,000 tonne of apples for its Saboro brand this season.

Bhagatram Garg, secretary of the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) in Shimla, the biggest market in Himachal Pradesh also attributed the fall in prices to increased supply.

“Prices are down from the previous week, even as the arrival increased by about 35,000 boxes. Prices may decline further if the arrivals increase in the next few days,“ he said.

However, traders and growers expect prices of better quality apples to increase by Rs. 200-300 per box, when supply begins in the next 10-15 days. The crop is late by about 20 days due to delayed monsoon.

At Solan, home to the country's second largest market for the fruit, apple prices declined Rs 200 per box on Monday.

Bad Apple Himachal Pradesh is likely to produce 500-540 million kg of the fruit this year Procurement prices are also 60-70% higher on account of shortfall in production.