Aquib Almelkar, native of Vijayapura and the lone representative from Karnataka who participated in the recently held China International Import Expo (CIIE) at Shanghai, says that opportunities are endless in China for Indian exports, mainly fresh fruits.
The expo was organised in association with Agriculture and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) which comes under Ministry of Commerce, Government of India, between November 5 and 10.
Mr. Almelkar, who was there to promote grape of Vijayapura, told The Hindu that the demand for Indian grape is very high in China. He added that China is particular about quality and they have strict norms on quantum of chemical residue in the fruits.
Over 1500 suppliers visited the stall of Mr. Almelkar at the expo. “Among those, three showed interest in buying grapes from our agency and first consignment of 16 tonnes of grape would be supplied in middle of December,” he said.
Mr. Almelkar said that though they would be procuring some grape from parts of Maharashtra such as Sangli and Nasik, they would procure a large quantity of grapes from Vijayapura district itself to promote the grape of this district in China.
