After Australia and South Korea, Iran has become the latest market for Indian mango export.
The Maharashtra State Agriculture Marketing Board (MSAMB) has readied four facilities for hot water treatment for shipment to Iran market and some consignments are expected to be sent to Iran on a test basis, senior officials of MSAMB said.
Full exports are likely to commence from the next season, officials said.
Australia and South Korea are some of the new markets that have opened up to Indian mangoes.
India could not export mangoes to Australia until now due to tough phyto-sanitary conditions that require irradiation treatment and inspection prior to the shipment.
However, a delegation visited a radiation plant in Maharashtra last year and the Australian Biosecurity Import Conditions (Bicon) authority recently revised its protocol to allow Indian irradiated mango.
It has okayed irradiation facility centres at Vashi in Navi Mumbai and Krushak at Lasalgoan (near Nashik).
Some 300 tonnes are expected to be exported to Australia this season.
Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) has already issued a trade notice for the 2017 season, stating that Quarantine Inspectors have been deputed for USA, Republic of Korea and Japan in Nashik, Mumbai and Bengaluru.
In continuation of the opening of Chinese market for Indian mangoes in 2004, APEDA took up the issue through Embassy of India and China for addition of more mango pack houses to be registered with Chinese authorities.
As an outcome of the efforts, Chinese Plant Quarantine Authority (AQSIQ) have confirmed that the revised list of mango pack houses with Hot Water Treatment (HWT) facilities has been approved and uploaded on to their official website, APEDA has informed exporters.
Europe has been one of the most important markets for the country and some 5,000 tonnes are expected to be exported to the Europe market.
For Europe, the produce has to go through hot-water treatment.
For South Korea, Pest Risk Analysis is mandatory.
Mauritius has already granted market access to Indian mangoes subject to phyto-sanitary certification, Switzerland has also lifted the ban on Indian mangoes.
New markets have also opened up in Canada, Malaysia, New Zealand, besides South Korea, North Korea and Australia.
According to Subhash Deshmukh, minister for cooperation and marketing, Maharashtra, around 50,000 -70,000 tonnes of exports are expected this season.
These include 5,000 tonnes to Europe, 1,500 tonnes to USA and 150 tonnes to Japan.
According to him, the Indian alphonso and Kesar variety of mangoes are in great demand in overseas markets.
The Marketing Board has established facilities for irradiation, hot water treatment, vapour heat treatment for export to various markets.
The minister also informed that currently mangoes are being sent to the US by air and efforts are being made to send them through the sea route.
Some 2,10,000 mango orchards have registered on MangoNet — a traceability system established by APEDA that has made it mandatory for exporters to pick mangoes for exports only from growers registered on MangoNet.
Last year, the country exported some 35,000 tonnes and this is expected to go up to around 45,000 tonnes this season.
Maharashtra is the largest mango exporter in the country and accounts for over 80% of the total exports.
Source: Financialexpress.com
