Indian mangoes in US this summer
Alfonso, Kesar and Banganpally will land in US, reports M Rajendran.
Alfonso, Kesar and Banganpally will land on US shores this season. To highlight the commitment to increase farm trade with India, David C Mulford, US Ambassador to India on Tuesday promised that mangos from India would be available in US markets this season.
Speaking at the second Annual Conference on Indo-US Economic Cooperation, he pointed out that following the promise made by President George W Bush last year during his visit to India to allow mangos from India, "We have worked to achieve a timetable for this opening that will permit Indian farmers to ship to the US in this year's season. We are on track to meet that commitment, and literally, for Americans and Indians to enjoy the fruits of our labour."
The US had been stalling import of Indian mangos on the grounds that New Delhi will have to comply with the Food and Drug Authorities (FDA) norms. Also, the US had wanted India to comply with regulations for pesticides and preservatives.
India regards this as a non-tariff barrier imposed through sanitary and phyto-sanitary measures. However, the issues have been discussed during Bush's visit here and the US has, in principle, agreed to permit Indian mangos.
Since each variety has its own life cycle the mango season in India extends over several months. This makes it possible to sustain exports over a longer period.
India is the largest producer of mangos, producing 10.9 million metric tonnes, 57 per cent of the total world production of 19.2 million metric tonnes. However, it has only a 19 per cent share of global mango exports.
According to the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (Apeda), in 2004-05 India exported 52,381 metric tonnes of fresh mangos worth $19 million and 90,988 metric tonnes of mango pulp worth $67 million.
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