Market access to India is very close, with the ten trial shipments to India progressing well. This week John Tyas, CEO of Avocados Australia, made his first visit to India post-Australian Avocados provisional access into the India Market. Here is John holding his first tray of Australian avocados in India. These are Costa Group avocados grown in Queensland and John is with their importers Sudhir Suri CEO and Manav Suri COO of Suri Agri Fresh. Together they discussed the promising future of Australian Avocados in the dynamic India Market. Additionally, John took part in retail visits to Nature’s Basket, Modern Bazaar and conducted a walk-through of the Traditional Retail Khan Market and INA Market. This provided John with a comparative view of the Indian trade environment. In retail stores John saw very little point-of-sale information which suggests an opportunity for strong country of origin branding and consumer education.

John also had the opportunity to meet with AMPRO Marketing and Tejaswi Rathore (Head of Marketing Austrade Food & Beverage) to discuss marketing and category development ideas for Australian Avocados. He also met with Sumit Saran, a well-known market development consultant from SS Associates who is managing the World Avocado Organisation marketing program currently underway in India.  Talks are underway for Australia to participate in this program.

John attended special events at the High Commission and saw presentations from key Australian government representatives. While in India, he also had the opportunity to engage with the Hon. Minister Watt, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, on issues of importance to the Australian avocado industry.

We thank AMPRO Marketing for assisting with John’s visit. AMPRO Marketing will be coordinating the official Australian Avocados launch in Delhi. More information about the launch will be sent out to industry stakeholders very soon.

This article is part of the 7 July 2023 issue of Guacamole, our fortnightly enewsletter.