Kashmiri growers sense a threat from inexpensive Iranian apples, seek import curbs

Nearly 70 percent of households in J&K are directly or indirectly dependent on horticulture for a living. (Photo by Irfan Amin Malik)

Kashmir’s apple growers thought they had enough hardships to worry about – Covid-19 and climate change on top of insurgency and the J&K’s often volatile politics.

They are now dealing with a new headache—competition in the form of inexpensive Iranian apples channelled to India through Afghanistan and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Apple growers in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) say that this season 30 million apple boxes have been left unsold in the Valley and prices of the fruit have crashed by nearly 50 percent.

So grim is the situation that fruit traders across the country are not picking up Kashmiri apples from warehouses and are also declining to get the additional produce stocked in cold storages, said Basheer Ahmad Basheer, chief of the Kashmir Valley Fruit Growers cum Dealers Union.

At the beginning of the New Year, both apple growers and traders in Kashmir hit the streets and protested against the import of Iranian apples, which they alleged is causing Kashmir’s apple industry to pile up losses.

“Iranian apples would earlier reach India through Afghanistan illegally. Since Afghanistan and India were members of the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA), they did not impose duty on imports from each other. The Iranian apples would come to Indian markets under the Afghanistan brand,” said Mohammad Ashraf Wani, an apple grower in Shopian.

Levies too little 

Since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in August 2021, the free trade agreement was suspended and this season Iranian apples entered Indian markets with a 15 percent import duty and 35 percent cess, Wani said.

But Wani said the levies weren’t enough to protect Indian apple growers.

“Despite levying both import duty and cess, the A grade Iranian apples are sold cheaper in India at Rs 40-50 per kg while the Kashmiri apples are sold at Rs 50-65 per kg,” he said.

Basheer is demanding the imposition of 100 percent import duty on Iranian apples. Wani suggested that if the government cannot increase import duty, it should raise the cess to protect Indian growers.

According to official figures, J&K is the largest producer of apples in India, making up 77.71 percent of the fruit grown in the country, followed by Himachal Pradesh (19 percent) and Uttarakhand (2.52 percent).

To be sure, Himachal and Uttarakhand growers have felt the pain too, but Kashmir has more at stake.

Also see: Iranian apples in Afghan 'clothing' make Kashmiri growers see red

An economic lynchpin 

Apple production contributes 60-65 percent of the total output of J&K’s horticulture sector and contributes over 8 percent to its gross domestic product. Nearly 70 percent of households in J&K are directly or indirectly dependent on horticulture for a living.

J&K apple growers say the government's claim of promoting an Aatmanirbhar Bharat (Self-Reliant India) has been belied by the encouragement it is giving to Iranian apple imports at the expense of local cultivators.

All fruit growers associations based in Kashmir have now written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking his intervention to safeguard the interests of local growers.

In the letter, the growers mentioned how Iranian apples resulted in a dip in demand for local produce.

An A grade apple box that earlier sold for Rs 800-1,100 is at present going for Rs 400 to Rs 600, which accounts for a 40 percent to 50 percent drop in price, said Fayaz Ahmad Malik, head of the fruit growers association in Sopore in Baramulla district.

Time to act 

Further delay in imposing higher import duties on Iranian apples will cause Kashmiri produce, stocked in stores across India, to rot, Ahmad Malik warned.

Growers, traders and buyers are already burdened by bank loans, he said.

“The government has left us to die because both demand for Kashmiri apples and prices have fallen,” he said.

Wani said since Iranian exports, including apple shipments, had been badly hit because of US sanctions, so the bulk of its apple produce is being exported to India at lower prices.

He added: “If the government has banned Chinese apples, why can’t it ban Iranian apples to safeguard their own farmers? Similarly in order to save its own farmers, if Japan has levied 100 percent cess on import of rice, why can India not do the same with apples?”