India looks to East Asia, Middle East in hunt for mango buyers

India is the world’s largest producer of mangoes, which account for 40 per cent of its fruit exports – though the pandemic has dealt these a blow

In a bid to boost sales, fruit-themed festivals and in-embassy tasting events have been held in Japan, South Korea and across several Gulf states

3-MIN READ3-MIN

Vendors arrange mangoes at a fruit market in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, last June. Photo: AFP

Published: 6:30pm, 20 Jul 2021Updated: 8:58pm, 20 Jul 2021

India is on the hunt for mango buyers across East Asia and the Middle East, with fruit-themed festivals and in-embassy tasting events being rolled out by the government in recent weeks in a bid to boost flagging exports of the country’s national fruit.

Mangoes account for some 40 per cent of India’s total fruit exports and it is the world’s largest producer of the crop, with about 21 million tonnes harvested in the year to June according to an agriculture ministry estimate.

But exports – around 50,000 tonnes in a good year – have been dealt a heavy blow by pandemic disruptions such as lockdown restrictions and higher freight costs.

Containers pictured in a port in Chennai, India. Higher freight costs have hit the country’s mango exports amid the pandemic. Photo: Reuters

About US$28 million worth of fresh mangoes were exported from India between April last year and this February, official figures show, against a high of around US$195 million worth of the fruits and their associated products in 2016.

To attract more custom, the agricultural export arm of India’s commerce ministry has organised virtual buyer-seller meet-ups and held mango festivals in Bahrain, Kuwait, and Qatar recently. Embassies in Japan, South Korea and Dubai have been roped in as well, hosting mango-tasting events and sending out promotional consignments of the fruit to local Indian restaurants.