Srinagar, April 25: The Valley apple this year is expected to see more demand in Indian and Asian markets in view of low output in China.
 According to reports the apple output in China will severely decline because of the strange cold snap this week.
 According to reports China's largest apple growing base in Shaanxi province recorded the lowest temperatures in four decades this week which caused severe damage to 3.2 lakh farmland.
 Experts here said with a bulk of apple not coming to the international market from the China, the demand and the prices of the fruit would pick up this year.
 Experts said the low output in China could open up a big space for the Valley apple in Indian and Asian markets.
 The apple growers here said the low apple output in China could lead to a price rise of 30 to 40 per cent in the Asian markets. “This can certainly be a benefit for the apple producers in the Valley as they will definitely get the higher returns for their yield,” said Shahid Choudhary of Choudhary Orchards.
 According to the growers, apart from increasing the returns for their produce, the decrease in apple production in China will also help the Kashmiri apple producers to open to new markets for them.
 “The quality of our apples is not good to compete with the Chinese apple but the decline in the production there will certainly give a chance to our apple to find enhanced markets in Asia. The returns for our apples from metropolitan cities will definitely shoot up,” they said.
 However, many growers and traders said there was little possibility for Kashmiri apple reaching to the foreign markets in absence of the Chinese apple.
 “Our apple does not go to foreign markets like Singapore, Malaysia, and other countries and is exported only up to Bangladesh. These places need a quality product which we do not produce because of the lack of proper infrastructure. Apple needs proper vaccination and storage after plucking and then only can it be send to any foreign county including the gulf countries,” they said.
 However they feel that if the apples from Shopian can be preserved in the best possible manner after plucking, it can be sold at such places.
 The apple growers said that the government needs to act proactively to help them to fetch the benefits out of China’s low apple production.
 “If we succeed in taking the benefits from it, it will provide us an encouragement for greater productions in future as well. When we will be able to generate higher returns for our production it will certainly lead us to invest more in the next season and will hence improve the production in the coming year,” said Shahid Choudhary.
 The growers said that they are expecting a very good crop of apples in the valley this year. “Till now we are seeing fruits developing in a very perfect manner so we are expecting bumper crop this year.  If the climate remains favourable we are expecting a good crop,” they said.

Lastupdate on : Sun, 25 Apr 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sun, 25 Apr 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Mon, 26 Apr 2010 00:00:00 IST