The Gaceta de la India, the official newspaper of the Indian government, published the phytosanitary requirements for the importation of citrus fruits and blueberries of Peruvian origin, which will allow these products to reach one of the most important fruit markets in the world, reported the Commission for the Promotion of Peru for Exports and Tourism (Promperú).

According to the regulations of the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmer Welfare, of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmer Welfare of India, Peru may ship mandarins, oranges, lemons and grapefruits, as well as berries of the species Vaccinium spp.

Thanks to the officialization of the publication, the arrival of Peruvian citrus and blueberries to this market will be a reality, adding these products to the current exports of grapes and avocados. In this sense, the exportable supply of fresh fruits to India will increase notably in the coming months.

The approval of access for these products would not have been possible without the coordinated efforts between the National Agrarian Health Service of Peru (Senasa), the Embassy of Peru in India and the commercial office of Promperú in that country.

The market

The foreign trade of fresh fruits in India is in a very dynamic stage. An increasingly important part of the Indian market is moving from the traditional consumption of local products to orienting their preferences towards imported species from origins considered exotic and which also have functional characteristics and offer nutritional value.

This context, marked by the pandemic of the COVID-19, makes the entry of Peruvian citrus fruits and blueberries at this time generate an extraordinary opportunity for these foods, in a country in which the demand for fruits rich in vitamins and health benefits is rapidly growing.

Regarding the specific preferences of Indian consumers, according to the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority of India (APEDA), the citrus group constitutes the third most imported fruit, after apples and kiwis, being the orange the main imported fruit within this group.

On the other hand, blueberries, like avocados, although it is a relatively new product, its preference is rapidly increasing in the upper and middle socioeconomic sectors of that country.

According to information published by APEDA, imports of fruits of the genus Vaccinium increased from US $ 384,000 (period 2019-2020) to US $ 1 (178,000-2020).

The trend of imported fruit consumption is being strongly driven, in part, by the content generated on social networks and the Internet, and by the promotional campaigns that importing companies and distributors are executing in the main markets in India, so the acquisition of these foods in said nation will continue to grow constantly.