After four years, European market open up to Indian grapes

PUNE: It is a story of total turnaround for Indian grape exports. Four years after the European Union rejected Indian grapes on the issue of pesticide residues, which wiped out the entire breed of small grower exporters from the export scene, the European buyers are now queueing up to buy Indian grapes.
Despite the damage caused by recent rainfall and hailstones in the growing regions of Maharashtra - the top grape producer and exporter - India is set to export record quantity in the 2013-14 season. Farmers are enjoying good rates as demand for grapes is strong from Europe, Russia, Bangladesh and the Middle East.
Jagannath Khapre, president of the All India Grape Exporters Association, said, "This year, the export season has been very good. The export of grapes to Europe and UK till March 3 has been 14,000 tonne as against 8,500 tonne during the same period last year. The confidence of the customers in Europe and UK in the quality of Indian grapes has grown enormously."
Grape export to the European Union (EU) had come down to 22,000 tonne in 2010-11 due to the pesticide issue. Gradually, it increased, touching 56,000 tonne in 2012-13 .