Apples to apples: Turkiye fruit imports under the scanner after ongoing tiff with India

Himachal Pradesh is known for its apples in India. But in the post-pandemic years, India became a major importer of the fruit, globally. And a significant chunk of it came from Turkiye, which recently announced its stance to support Pakistan despite the recent terror attack on Pahalgam in India.

And now, Indian apple producers, led by the Himachal Pradesh government are looking to hike import duty on apples, with some even calling for banning the import of the fruit from Turkiye.

According to data from the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (DGCIS), India imported over 3.7 lakh metric tons (MT) of apples worth north of $295 million in the April-August window of FY2023.

In the following fiscal, it was reported that the April-August period saw close to $400 million in fresh apple imports.

Now, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu leads the boycott calls for apples, with Turkiye being the leading exporter of the fruit to India. In the last fiscal year, Turkiye accounted for around 23 per cent of total apple imports to the country.

While the imports have soared, Himachal Pradesh apple production has been hit. In the 2023 crop cycle, Himachal Pradesh produced 4.84 lakh MT of apples. This was 28 per cent lower than the 6.72 lakh MT it produced in the 2022 crop year, according to the Economic Survey report.

While there is no official data available for specific Turkiye import of apples into Himachal Pradesh, the jump in imports coinciding with the slide in local production has hampered the state's bragging rights as India's headlining producer of the fruit.

Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu recently met with Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to raise this exact issue. The state now seeks to control (or maybe even ban) apple imports from Turkiye.

Citing that Turkiye imports are hindering the growth of apple growers in the state, Sukhu hopes to slap a hike in import duty on apples.

Along with this demand, the chief minister also discussed various issues concerning the state budget, urging Sitharaman to raise the borrowing limit of Himachal Pradesh by at least two per cent.

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