Kashmir apple rates surge 50 percent to decade high

Suhail Ahmad, another apple grower in the Tral area of Pulwama district, told Moneycontrol that this year, for the first time, growers have managed to get record rates for their produce.

Apple growers in Kashmir, at least those who have harvested the Grade A variety of the crop, are a happy lot these days. Understandably so, as their produce is enjoying the best market rate in ten years. Apples grown in Kashmir, described by locals as the ‘fruit bowl’ of North India, currently enjoying premiums in all the fruit markets, thanks to the truncated output not being able to keep pace with demand.

According to apple growers, there has been a sharp drop in apple production this year in Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh, and the rate of the crop is 50 percent higher than last year.

“For the first time since 2007-08, apples are being sold at the best prices in Kashmir. The significant shortage of supply has caused prices to skyrocket,” said Mohammad Ashraf Wani, an apple cultivator in Kellar village of Shopian district, some 52 kilometres south of Kashmir. “A 20-30 percent drop in crop production this year in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) as well as Himachal Pradesh, two major apple producing regions, has led to apple prices soaring in the market,” he said.

Monsoon decimates output
Apple production in Himachal Pradesh has been hit by the havoc caused by the monsoon in the state this year. The floods triggered by the rains caused a total loss of Rs 240 crore to Himachal’s apple industry. Against the average 8 lakh metric tonnes (MT) of apple production, Himachal produced only 3 lakh MT this year.

Similarly, weather fluctuations in Kashmir affected the crop at various stages of development, leading to a decline in output.

Wani, who is also a trader and former president of the fruit market in Shopian, told Moneycontrol that apples produced in J&K and Himachal, apart from being mostly sold within the country, are also exported to Bangladesh and Nepal. “Such is the demand of our apples that every day, between September and November, 80-100 apple-laden trucks carrying 800 boxes of apples are transported to Delhi and other parts of the National Capital Region.”

Official figures show that Kashmir exports around 18 lakh MT of apples annually and accounts for 75 percent of India's total apple production.

According to 55-year-old Wani, for the first time ever a 15 kg box containing the Kulu delicious variety is being sold at Rs 1,300-1,600 compared to Rs 700-800 last year. Similarly, the 15 kg plain delicious variety is sold at Rs 1,000-1,300 compared to Rs 400-600 last year.

Not far from Srinagar, in Sopore, touted to be Asia's second-largest fruit market, the rates of grade A apples have doubled over last year. “Two weeks before the A grade quality was sold at Rs 1,300 to Rs 1,400 per 15 kg box. This year, however, the rates started to decrease after apples from Iran entered the Indian market. However, the rates still are on the higher side as the Grade A quality is currently sold at Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,100 per 15 kg box against Rs 500-600 per 15 kg box last year,” Sopore fruit Mandi president Fayaz Ahmad Malik told Moneycontrol.

Suhail Ahmad, another apple grower in the Tral area of Pulwama district, told Moneycontrol that this year, for the first time, growers have managed to get record rates for their produce.

Manzoor Ahmad Mir, deputy director, central horticulture planning and marketing, told Moneycontrol that the rates for Kashmir apples have increased not only due to low production but also because of improvement in grading and packing of the fruit. “This is the first time after nearly a decade that the rates of our crop have risen. We are seeing good demand in almost all the markets of the country, mainly in Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Chennai.”

Mir added that this year, the colour of the fruit was better due to which demand and prices have risen. “Whenever there are fewer fruits on the tree, the colour of apples gets better due to proper sunlight exposure. The fruit density on a tree impacts the colour and overall quality of apples,” he explained.

Few takers for lower grades
Sopore fruit Mandi president Malik, however, added that the gains would not be much for a grower as a large chunk of the fruit has been affected by scab. He added that overall production this year was only 60 percent of the level in previous years, and of this, only 30 percent was A grade while the rest was C grade.

“Prolonged erratic weather, coupled with hailstorm and use of substandard pesticides in apple orchards, have reduced production drastically this year,” he said.

Bashir Ahmad Bashir, president of the Kashmir fruit growers and dealers association, told Moneycontrol that the rates of A grade apples are better than in previous years but output is low.

“Last year 21 lakh MT of apples were produced in J&K compared to 9 MT so far this year. A grower is getting good rates only for the A grade while the B and C grade apples either go to waste or are sold at cheaper rates,” said Bashir.

Multiple challenges
In the past 15 years, Kashmir’s apple industry has suffered heavy losses inflicted by political instability, climate change, conventional farming, Covid-19 and the influx of Iranian and U.S. apples. Last year, farmers complained that they suffered huge losses due to the frequent stalling of fruit-laden trucks on the Srinagar-Jammu national highway.

Despite being laid low by these challenges, the apple industry in J&K is the largest employment generator, engaging 3.5 million people, and contributing 9.5 percent to the union territory’s GDP.

To mitigate the challenges Kashmir’s apple industry is going through and compete with Iranian and American apples, Wani has suggested that growers shift their focus to high-density framing. “The traditional apple trees in our orchards are 50-60 years old due to which our crop is not able to sustain current weather fluctuations. We need to introduce hybrid and climate-resilient varieties. Pesticide spraying should be done on the recommendations of horticulture scientists,” he explained.

It is not clear if his call will be heeded. For now, those who have harvested Grade A apples are a happy lot.