Unlike her South African fellow panellists at the annual IFPA Southern Africa conference, Shubha Rawal, head of sourcing at Indian fruit importer IG International, observed a remarkable resilience to price inflation in the Indian economy.
"When we look at consumer spend, we see that is growing. And post-Covid, healthy eating habits have changed and in India significantly people have moved from junk to fresh. Now, to my surprise, people even consume avocados and berries. What changed this all, was citrus because of the vitamin C-hype that was everywhere post-Covid."
Shubha Rawal, head of sourcing at Navi Mumbai-based IG International.
Rawal offered a pointer based on extensive polling IG International conducts among consumers. "I would really like to request that people make things a little simpler. When I talk about apples today, coming from South Africa: like, we have apples from the US, from Turkey, from New Zealand. It's always premium, extra fancy, fancy." From South Africa, she continued, there comes a myriad of apple varieties, naming some of the many Gala types that she sources from the country.
"There are too many variants, and when I have to promote something: what do I do? How do I explain that all of these apples are different? For India, an apple is an apple. We are still educating our consumers, but it'll take years to get there, I think."
She offered the parable of a farmer who had planted, watered and tended to a bamboo shoot which showed little growth, year upon year, until it had a growth spurt more than a handful of years later.
"South African growers, you have already planted that bamboo seed in India. It takes five years for that tree to come up while it's strengthening its root system. Just be patient. India is an emerging market, you just have to be there. In the last five years, what we've seen with South African apples, pears, citrus, it has been amazing. Especially pears, the Forelles and Vermonts; they have just been booming. We're really short on pears. We just need more and more. South African pears have replaced all the pears coming to India from around the world. There's nothing [coming] from the US, nothing from Europe. There is a 52-week supply of pears coming from South Africa, and I'd like to congratulate the growers on making that possible."
Indian Q-commerce offers four-minute delivery
She explained to delegates why she considers Indian consumers 'spoilt' for convenience. "Because of so much manpower, I have an app that will deliver anything that I need in just four minutes. Whatever I need, Royal Gala apples from South Africa or Zespri kiwis from New Zealand, I can get it in four minutes."
In India where, she said, the internet was free and there are one billion internet users, this is called Quick Commerce or Q-commerce. It still makes up only 10% of fresh produce sales, with wholesale supplying street vendors or small cart vendors making up the other 90%.
Not all of these Q-commerce companies might yet be profitable, she remarked, but they're being backed by major financial partners who espy the future of fresh produce here. Social media fresh produce promotions are really easy in India, she added.
For more information:
Shubha Rawal
IG International
https://www.iginternational.net/