Srinagar : Mohammad Akbar Dar, a fruit dealer who purchased apples from multiple local farmers earlier this year, walks through his store with a heavy heart. Crates filled with apples lie on shelves with no buyers.
With the market down, Dar anticipates a loss of nearly Rs 30 lakh this year. “The market looked promising at the start, but everything has collapsed,” Dar said, pointing to rows of crates filled with apples.
Dar is now hoping for the stabilising of the market this winter to minimise his losses. “ If the market doesn’t stabilize, then I have no option other than to borrow a loan from the banks or sell my land to compensate for my losses,” he said.
Across the valley, growers echo Dar’s despair. As per the growers, premium varieties that once sold for Rs 1,500-1,800 per box are now fetching only Rs 700-800. Other grades of Delicious apples are down to Rs 400-600 from Rs 1,000-1,200 per box.
“The losses are unbearable. Apples are rotting in our orchards. Buyers are scarce, prices are low, and the freight charges aren’t decreasing. It feels like we are trapped,” said Ghulam Ahmad Dar, a grower from Pattan.
Basheer Ahmad Basheer, president of the Kashmir Valley Fruit Growers Cum Dealers Union, painted a bleak picture for the broader market. “Demand has fallen by more than 50% in Indian fruit markets. The freight, too, has ceased to decrease amid low apple prices, adding to the financial burden of growers and dealers alike,” he said.
Basheer said the freight has gone between Rs100- 110 per box to New Delhi while the demand ceases to grow. “The production too was good this year and quality was also upbeat. Still, the outside Kashmir dealers don’t show interest in buying. If in any case, they buy, the prices offered are too low,” he said.
Basheer explained the grimness of the situation by saying that he has seen such an adverse situation for the apple trade in his last 50 years of career.
The closure of a key highway last month has compounded the crisis, preventing smooth transportation of produce and leaving the industry struggling to bounce back.
Officials said the enhanced production this year has lowered the demand in the domestic markets. “We are hopeful that the prices will go up this month. Kashmiri apples continue flowing to the market till January end, and we have witnessed that the market improves after October usually,” said an official from the horticulture department.