India may lower import duty on kiwi fruit, get market access for mango, banana from New Zealand

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India has agreed to New Zealand’s request to lower the 30 per cent import duty on kiwi fruit. Additionally, New Zealand has granted market access for Indian mangoes, bananas, and fresh pomegranate seeds.

New Zealand has also positively responded to a request by India to have co-operation on exchange of technologies to enhance yield of fruits like apple, sources said.

An agreement is likely to be signed when the New Zealand’s prime minister visits India in October, the sources said.

“The import duty may not be cut substantially as Indian growers may be affected since kiwi area has reached around 6,000 hectares,” an official source said.

Expanding trade

Requests were made during high-level talks between Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and New Zealand’s Minister for Agriculture, Forestry, Trade, and Associate Minister for Foreign Affairs Todd McClay in New Delhi on August 12, the government had said in a statement. India has sought swift approval for its newly audited vapour heat treatment facilities in Lucknow and Delhi for mango exports and also an early market access for grape shipments, it said.

Both the ministers also discussed expanding trade in fresh and dried fruits. The New Zealand minister thanked India for the recent resumption of pine log exports from New Zealand, which had faced fumigation-related challenges earlier.

The ministers agreed to encourage greater private-sector partnerships to boost bilateral trade and investment. They also explored possibilities for technical cooperation in research and development, particularly in horticulture and cage fisheries.

“Kiwi fruits from Chile has 15 per cent duty due to India’s preferential trade agreement as result it has price advantage over New Zealand“, said Anil Dwivedi, a leading fruit importer. Since the harvesting season of both Chile and New Zealand is same from April to October, there is competition, he said adding still the kiwi from New Zealand has quality advantage over other countries. Exports of kiwi by Iran to India commences after end of the season in New Zealand.

India’s kiwi import was 43,270 tonnes in 2023-24, down from 50,920 tonnes in 2022-23.