Congress MLA Rathore urges government to retain apple import tariff at 50%

Kuldeep Rathore, the Congress MLA from the Theog Assembly constituency, has written to Union Minister for Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal to keep the tariff on the US apple at 50 per cent, and gradually raise it to 100 per cent.

Rathore has written to the Union Minister amidst fears and speculation among the apple growers that the government is considering reducing the import duty on the US apple under the pressure of US President Donald Trump. Rathore urged Goyal to apprise Prime Minister Narendra Modi and raise the issue in the Parliament to highlight the catastrophic impact the reduction of import duty will have on the livelihood of the local apple growers.

“I have also written to all seven BJP MPs from the state to raise the matter in the Parliament,” said Rathore.

Rathore also wrote that the reduction in the import duty would flood the Indian market with much cheaper US apple, which would undermine the interests of the local producers.

“The concern of the apple growers is genuine. Recently, the import duty on almonds and walnuts coming from the US was slashed from 100 per cent to 30 per cent. As a result, the walnut import from the US increased by 25 per cent in 2023. A similar reduction in tariff on apple would devastate the state’s apple industry, which lacks the scale and subsidies of the US,” wrote Rathore.

He further wrote that around 1.5 lakh families, mostly small and marginal farmers having five to 10 bighas of land, were directly dependent on apple for their livelihood.

“Apple production cost in the US is estimated to be around 30 to 40 per cent lower than in Himachal due to economies of scale and federal support programme. A reduction in tariff would create an uneven playing field, making it difficult for Himachal growers to compete,” said Rathore.

The MLA said that if the tariff on the US apple was reduced, the other countries exporting apple to India would make similar demands.

“The cumulative effect of such concessions could lead to the collapse of India’s domestic apple industry, which employs millions directly and indirectly through cultivation, transportation, marketing, etc,” he said.

Himachal Tribune