California Walnuts keen to cash in on India's growing market

Enthused by India's robust growth and rich tradition of nut consumption, California Walnuts is keen to help the country meet its "skyrocketing" demand for the key dry fruit and address many health problems, officials said here today.
The California walnut industry, California Walnut Commission (CWC), is made up of over 4,000 walnut growers and 93 walnut handlers/processors.
"We see a tremendous potential in Indian walnut market. Right now we are only at 14,000 metric tonnes. It is only a small penetration. We can grow. India is a core part of our long term strategy because there's tremendous opportunity in a lot of different products, particularly in the Indian-style sweets," said Michelle Connell, CEO CWC.

She said the Indian producers were already benefiting from their strong marketing and promotion of walnut's health benefits by roping in nutritionists, dietitians, doctors, bakeries, confectioners and through direct advertising.
"When the price rises because of the high demand, everybody makes more money," she said.
"We are very excited about the market. We have seen dramatic growth owing to our partners here in India. We know we have just begun. There is a lot more potential here and we are excited to continue to expand and showcase the walnuts for our consumers," Connell said.

Terming India as a "very discerning" market, senior Marketing Director CWC Pamela Graviet said the demand was more for the natural products.

She said a "rich cultural heritage" of dry fruit consumption played an important part in the growth of the walnut market.
"It's not a foreign item here. It's a natural item to eat. Because of the vegetarian-based culture, there is huge opportunity for walnut to become not just an added ingredient but the centrestage ingredient of the plate," Pamela said.
Walnuts have a unique characteristic and that has to do with omega 3 fatty acids, Keith Sunderlal, India representative of CWC, said.
Sunderlal said Indians are predominately vegetarians and as a result it is a protein-deficient society.
"There is a lot of interest in nuts globally. It's a trend we latch on to and help to push it. Globally as well as here in India the demand for walnuts has skyrocketed," he told PTI.

Asked about the concerns expressed by the domestic traders, particularly from Jammu and Kashmir, over the entry of Californian walnut in the market, he said there was no conflict and their consistent delivery throughout the year to all Indian consumers differs them from the domestic players.
"If the demand has grown, it means there's no growth domestically. So people have to buy from somewhere. Indian walnuts are available only for a few months not twelve months and consumers want to eat it all year," he said.
"We are not at odds with the domestic industry. A lot of our initial importers were the Jammu players. They market our product. We see no conflict. People benefit from it overall and the market is only going to grow...A 25 per cent increase in our yearly imports is par for the course," he said.

India roughly produces 35,000 tonnes of walnuts every year. Out of which 20,000 are sold domestically and the rest is exported.
Shipments of California walnuts to India for the 2016-17 crop year were about 31.5 million in-shell pounds, up from 9.1 million pounds in the previous year.
The 2014-15 crop year saw shipment increase quite a bit with 5.2 million pounds of inshell walnuts going to India and 84,500 pounds of kernels.
"There are jobs being created in India. When you sell 14,000 metric tonnes of walnut, it does create a hell lot of jobs. It is already a potential source of employment," Sunderlal said.