Centre eases the norms for apple import

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The government has removed restrictions on apple imports and has now permitted the fruit shipments to enter India from any port of the country. The earlier norms allowed the inward apple shipments through the seaports and airports at Kolkata, Chennai, Mumbai, and Cochin; the land port and airport in Delhi and also at India’s land borders only.

The DGFT (Directorate General of Foreign Trade) announced in a notification that, “Port restriction for import of apples…is hereby removed.”

This move of the government will help to ease the prices of the fruit and increase its availability within the local markets.

India is the third largest producer of apple in the whole world. The fruit is also the most consumed fruit in the country.  However, the production is limited to only the cooler hill states of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand.

Apples are imported into the country from the USA, China, Chile, New Zealand, Italy, Iran and Afghanistan, and some other countries. The apple imports of India stood at USD 298 million during April-January 2018.