India market hungry for taste of kiwifruit

Zespri's India marketing manager Manasi Chitlangia in Mumbai's wholesale fruit market.

Bay of Plenty Times Weekend journalist Juliet Rowan is in India and visits Mumbai's vast fruit market and a coolstore where New Zealand kiwifruit and apples are stored and packaged for the burgeoning market.

Each morning, fruit vendors come from all over Mumbai to the APMC market to get fresh produce for their stalls.

It is the only wholesale fruit market in the vast city of 25 million and the place is heaving.

Situated on the outskirts of Mumbai beneath lush green mountains, the market houses 600 wholesalers who sell to street vendors arriving by train, bus, taxi, and auto rickshaw. Others come on foot or by motorbike, while trucks wait to deliver fruit to markets outside Mumbai.

After visiting the wholesalers and selecting their fruit, the street vendors leave with boxes of apples, kiwifruit, pomegranates and pineapple stacked on their shoulders and heads.

Fruit perishes quickly in the intense heat in India so the vendors buy just enough to stock their stalls for the day. The process repeats itself the following morning, the only break in the routine being Sunday, when the market is closed.

New Zealand kiwifruit and apples are everywhere in the APMC market, stacked high in boxes boasting of their origin. Coming from the Bay, the heart of New Zealand's kiwifruit region, I feel proud to hear that our growers are the dominant force in India's kiwifruit market.
Zespri's India marketing manager Manasi Chitlangia, who takes us to the market, tells us kiwifruit sales have blossomed in the last three years.

Figures supplied by the company's head office at Mt Maunganui show sales volumes increased from 500,000 trays in 2014 to more than 1.5 million this season. Growth of at least 40 per cent is forecast in the next five years.

Zespri is using Bollywood child actor Harshaali Melhodra to advertise kiwifruit in India.

Manasi says the growth in the market prompted Zespri to open an office in Mumbai in February last year, having previously worked out of New Zealand Trade and Enterprise headquarters.

The New Zealand Government is also working to ease restrictions on export trade with India, kiwifruit currently being subject to 30 per cent duty. Prime Minister John Key is expected in the country later this year for further talks on a free trade agreement but Manasi says negotiations in India always take time.

Meanwhile, Zespri continues to market kiwifruit and raise awareness of it among India's growing middle class.

As we drive to the market, we see billboards advertising Zespri green and gold, as well as posters of Bollywood child actor Harshaali Melhodra, who is the star of the company's latest ad campaign.

Manasi used to work in celebrity management and had the idea of using Harshaali after she rose to fame in a hit Bollywood movie last year.

"Cut, scoop and be zurprised" is Zespri's new mantra in India, 7-year-old actor Harshaali Melhodra issuing orders to do so army style in the quirky ad.

Kiwifruit started as a dessert topping in India and Manasi says Zespri is trying to get people to eat them whole. "Through advertisements we're trying to encourage the cut-spoon method of eating."

Part of Zespri's job in India has also been to raise awareness of the fruit in a market dominated by three other staples. "Apples, bananas and mangos rule the fruit market in India," says Manasi.

Packaging is key to success with small packs of two and, later, three proving popular. "Now we're trying to convert them from three to five."

Larger gift boxes of 12 are also available, Manasi saying the many religious festivals throughout the year and the need to give gifts of food are helping those boxes sell well. Prices fluctuate depending on currencies, with a pack of three costing between 60 and 100 rupees ($1.20 to $2).

Gold kiwifruit, which are more perishable, were only launched in India last year, but Manasi says their sweetness appeals to the Indian palate and they will likely overtake green in the next five years.

Zespri used Bollywood actor Kalki Kochelin to launch gold last year and she talked about the health benefits of kiwifruit at marketing promotions. But Manasi says health benefits alone do not sell foods to Indian consumers and they have to like the taste as well. "If it's healthy and tasty, it works."

While Zespri dominates the Indian kiwifruit market, there is competition from growers in Iraq, Greece and Chile.
Chile is the main grower and small quantities of kiwifruit are also produced in north India, but Manasi says that fruit is only eaten locally and does not reach the Mumbai market.

Ninety per cent of Zespri kiwifruit sold in India is sold through street vendors. Supermarket sales account for only 7 per cent and 3 per cent is through online supermarkets, but Manasi says because street vendors replenish their stock daily and Indian consumers perceive their produce as freshest, distribution methods are unlikely to change any time soon.

At the market, we meet the largest of Zespri's three Indian distributors, Ravi Tajane. He sells about 1500 boxes of kiwifruit a day, each with 54 individual fruit, and he also has New Zealand apples.

There is more competition in the apple market, however, and we see apples from many countries and regions of India in stalls.

We also visit a coolstore where Zespri packages its fruit. Manager Santhosh Nair tells us the packhouse needs to operate 24/7 to keep up with demand.

Mumbai, which is on the coast, is the entry point to India for all New Zealand kiwifruit and from there it is moved by road. It takes two days to reach the capital Delhi, where we visit another market, where consumers ask for all kiwifruit, including the Chilean variety, by the name Zespri.

"Zespri is a synonym for kiwifruit," says Delhi distributor Sidhantt Suri.
Indian children can try their hand at packing kiwifruit at a popular theme park in Mumbai and Delhi.
The Kidzania theme parks give kids the chance to try different jobs, including pilots, doctors, journalists and delivery drivers.

Companies including Coca Cola, Cadbury and Hyundai have kid-sized factories and offices and the Mumbai park is humming when we visited. In the mini Zespri packhouse, they're dressed in branded green jackets and hairnets. They practice grading and packing kiwifruit before running to try the next career.

• Juliet Rowan is in India courtesy of the Asia New Zealand Foundation.