Arrival of Indian Mangoes in the US

Washington, DC
May 1, 2007 

The arrival of first Indian mangoes in the US last week marked the successful culmination of the bilateral initiative to create new opportunities for both Indian farmers and U.S. consumers. Shri Kamal Nath, Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, hailed the market access made available to Indian mangoes by US (and earlier by Japan) as “a major breakthrough that augurs well for Indian agro product exports”. 

India is the world’s largest producer of mangoes with over 1, 000 varieties grown in the country. About 14 million tones of the fruit are harvested each year – representing more than 52 % of world production - of which barely 1% is exported. While Indian mangoes are enjoyed in over 80 countries round the world, they could not enter America - the largest market for the fruit – till now due to non-tariff barriers. 

At an event organized by the US-India Business Council on May 1, 2007 to celebrate the arrival of the first Indian mangoes into the US, Ambassador of India Ronen Sen handed over baskets of the fruit to Secretary of Agriculture Mr. Mike Johanns and Ambassador Susan Schwab, USTR. The Ambassador thanked them both for their personal initiative and for the hard work put in by their departments and the counterpart Indian departments in getting timely clearance for import of Indian mangoes to the US. He said that it was illogical that Indian mangoes – which were acclaimed as ‘the fruit of the kings and king of the fruits’ should have been denied to the American consumers so far. He recalled that the matter was taken up by Dr. Manmohan Singh with President Bush during his last visit to India in March 2006 and pointed to the speedy developments since as “symbolic of the spirit of cooperation which exist between the two countries”. 

Secretary Johannes recalled his extremely successful visit to India and said that today’s celebration was an indicator of the scope which existed for expanding bilateral trade, particularly agricultural commodities.

Ambassador Schwab echoed these sentiments. She also spoke with warmth of her recent visit to India which had proved to be very productive and useful. She said that the Indian mangoes represented not just a market opening for one product but, “the determination of both India and the United States to forge deeper and stronger trade ties and create significant new economic opportunities for the people of both of our vast countries.” She expressed appreciation for India having earlier opened its market to US almonds, reflecting the same spirit. She concluded by underlining the enormous potential for cooperation between the two countries for promoting agricultural market access – in the bilateral context as well as in the context of the Doha development round.

The unique flavour of Indian mangoes was enjoyed by the standing room-only audience present at the event.