Poland to fight for Indian apple market

Warsaw is waiting for a binding decision from Indian sanitary authorities on the possibility of importing Polish apples.

The move comes as Poland is eyeing a greater presence on the Indian market, with Deputy PM and Economy Minister Janusz Piechocinski closing a three-day visit to Gujarat, Monday, with a delegation of almost 25 Polish businesses and government officials.

The announcement was made by Poland’s Deputy Agriculture Minister Tadeusz Nalewajk following talks during the Vibrant Gujarat business summit in Ahmedabad, where a Polish delegation met with Union Cabinet Minister of Food Processing, Harsimrat Kaur Badal.

Head of the delegation, Deputy PM Piechocinski also met with Indian PM Narendra Modi to discuss the possibility of exporting Polish apples.

“Modi instructed the agriculture ministry to look into the matter, hence an agreement thanks to which we will be able to export apples to India,” Nalewajk explained.

Poland’s move on India’s apple market is due to its enormity: the country imports some 200,000 metric tons of the fruit annually, with most coming from the USA, New Zealand and Australia.

Hovever, a large proportion of domestic production goes rotten as there is a lack of funds to store the apples in favourable conditions, Nalewajk said.

Mining capabilities

Piechocinski underlined that Polish businesses have a lot to offer the Indian market. Recently the country has seen over 5 percent GDP growth, with Gujarat State seeing over 10 percent year-on-year growth.
During his visit, Piechocinski also met with the Chief Minister of Gujarat Anandiben Patel as well the coal and steel ministers, as Poland is pushing for exports of mining machinery for the growing Indian mining sector.

According to India’s Ministry of Coal, India has over 300 billion metric tons of coal reserves.
Meanwhile, in the first nine months of 2014, trade turnover between Poland and India reached USD 1.9 billion, a rise of 18 percent on the same period in 2013.