Malawi Mangoes enters India market
Malawi Mangoes, a Salima-based commercial fruit farming and processing enterprise, has started exporting its mangoes to India.
The firm has accessed the Indian market after signing a treaty with the Indian Government to permit mango imports following successful phytosanitary approvals to check on disease and pests, according to an Indian online publication Economic Times (www.economictimes.indiatimes.com.)
Being one of the least developed countries, it means Malawi Mangoes is exporting its mangoes under the duty-free status.
The penetration of the India market means an expansion of the firm’s exports zones apart from Zimbabwe, South Africa, China, United States and the Middle East.
According to the publication, the mangoes will be available in India this week, two months ahead of the country’s mango season.
It further states that the mangoes from Malawi taste almost like their Alphonso mangoes.
“The Malawi mangoes will be available in bulk as about 150 tonnes are likely to be imported this year,” it reads.
It further states that traders from India had attempted to import mangoes from Malawi last year, but delayed due to the absence of the phytosanitary approvals.
Plans to export to India were unveiled in May this year when Malawi Mangoes general manager Charlie Leaper attended the 13th Confederation for Indian Industry (CII) Exim Bank Conclave on India/Africa Project Partnership.
During the meeting, Leaper said the company will export 150 tonnes of fresh mangoes to India.
However, he could not comment on the recent development, saying he was working on a press statement in conjunction with the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism.
Malawi Mangoes is a beneficiary of $5 million (about K4 billion) loan from the World Bank’s private sector financing arm, International Finance Corporation (IFC).
Malawi Mangoes has two fully irrigated farms planted with 219 hectares of a wide cultivar mix of mangoes.
