The New Zealand Pipfruit industry is building value and scale through branding and collaboration and it’s doing it in India.
Increasingly Indian consumers are turning their backs on the popular and traditional Red Delicious apple and choosing a New Zealand favourite, Royal Gala.
It’s good news for Pipfruit New Zealand who chose India for the launch of its new apple brand ‘100% Pure Apples from New Zealand’ recently.
Gary Jones, Services Manager from Pipfruit New Zealand says the New Zealand industry, which leads the way in the development of new apple varieties and in growing harvesting and packing technology, wants to work with Indian growers to develop the market.
“We want New Zealand Royal Gala to be the new fruit for India,” says Jones.
While imports of Royal Gala apples have been nearly doubling year-on-year over the last four years, it has been against a backdrop of challenges.
“Just the size of the subcontinent is daunting,” Jones says. “There are also entrenched consumer habits and infrastructure problems around the cool chain.”
These problems are being solved through relationship building with New Zealand exporters establishing key partners who will manage distribution.
“Several of our exporters have already identified and developed these relationships,” says Jones. “Our job is really to create a New Zealand presence around the fruit and provide the collateral, branding and marketing materials.”
Pipfruit NZ wants to grow commercial partnerships by taking advantage of the two countries counter seasonal growing periods.
Jones says the big challenge for New Zealand at the moment is India’s 50 percent tariff on imported fruit and he hopes that a free trade agreement will help ease that. In the meantime New Zealand has taken a multi-level approach to the market.
“Our aim is to help the Indian apple industry become more competitive. The tariff has sheltered producers and allowed the erosion of productivity. Indian growers are no longer protected from the big producers such as Chile, China and Washington.”
Being counter-seasonal Jones says New Zealand poses no threat to the Indian growers but can add value to their industry through introducing Kiwi technologies. To do this the New Zealand exporters need to develop long term commercial partnerships which they can dovetail with to ensure year round supply of high quality, high paying apple varieties.
“Once the relationships are built we’ll be able to bring over more proprietary varieties that are coming out of the New Zealand breeding programme. This will enable more unique varieties to be grown in the Himalayan foothills that we can look to commercialise together with Indian growers.
“This protects the growers because you have a unique environment where they control the supply chain, brand and create value.”
Jones says NZTE help was invaluable in all areas of the project especially kick starting the relationship building process, setting up the forums and opening doors.
“Having cricketing legend Sir Richard Hadlee on board as an ambassador was inspired. In a cricketing mad country, his support of the brand gave us a good base to work from.
Jones says while people do have independent views on what should be happening he says the way around it is to get the right personalities and industry leaders on board at the beginning.
“You need people who are respected in their different fields and who understand the benefits the uptake of new technologies will bring.”
It’s a long-term collaboration that will definitely be to the benefit of New Zealand and Indian growers and most importantly to the taste of Indian consumers.
