a day ago
Imported, exotic fruits flood supermarkets
Chennai: South African pears, Peruvian blueberries, Australian oranges, New Zealand apples and Chinese grapes, each with stickers showing their country of origin, are on display in the neighbourhood supermarkets as wholesale vendors in Koyambedu import them in tonnes.
On the other side of the aisle are native-grown exotic fruits such as dragon fruit, jamun, fig, mangosteen, rambutan and dates sourced from different parts of the country, including Ooty and Kodaikanal.
"The official fruit season has begun in Chennai," said Fruit Association president S Srinivasan who imports fruits from several countries. "The season for mangoes and jackfruit is coming to an end, but native apples from Himachal Pradesh are yet to come.
Imported fruit usually fills the gap."
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In the past 10 days, the red, firm, dense, remarkably crisp, and honey-flavoured Royal Gala apples from New Zealand have been among the fastest-moving products at the wholesale market, priced at 4,500 to 4,800 for a 17kg box. The season for apples from Turkey just ended, vendors said. While Egyptian oranges are being sold now, vendors are placing orders for oranges and mandarins (smaller oranges) from South Africa, which are likely to arrive in a couple of weeks.
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South African pears, costing between 25 and 30 a piece in the wholesale market for a box containing 100 or 120, are now on sale. As are pears from Chile, priced at 2,400 to 2,600 for a 12kg cart. "Chile is a significant global producer and exporter of pears, particularly European pear varieties. They are tasty too, but the shelf life for these varieties is shorter," said S Karthik, a wholesale vendor.
So are Peru's blueberries.
A carton containing a dozen 120g boxes of this fruit is sold at 1,900-2,000 in the wholesale market. "In supermarkets, it's sold at 350-450 per box. This is because they may wrinkle or shrink fast. Wastage pushes up prices of these fruits."
Alongside these imported varieties are Indian native varieties, mostly sourced from Ooty, Kodaikanal, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Maharashtra, said market management committee member K Jayaraman, a wholesale trader. "We have the best of mangosteen and rambutans this year. Jamuns are of premium quality too. We are also getting good quality large guavas," he said.
The season for exotic and imported fruit is likely to end by Sept when the festive season begins in India.
