GMR Hyderabad International Airport (GHIAL) – the operator of Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) – has started exporting mangoes to South Korea as it looks to boost perishables traffic through the indian airport.
The gateway says it is part of envisioning Indian PM Narendra Modi’s vision to increase the income of Indian farmers. It has exported an initial commercial consignment of 2.5 tonnes of Indian mangoes for the first time to South Korea through its Cargo Terminal – operated by Hyderabad Menzies Air Cargo Pvt. Ltd (HMACPL).
GHIAL & HMACPL Teams has worked with the farming community at the Vizianagaram facility for developing a pack-house, creating markets, commissioning this project with approvals from the Government and exporting Suvarnarekha variety of mangoes to South Korea.
RGIA becomes the first airport in India to facilitate export of mangoes to South Korea directly from a farm-based infrastructure. Mangoes being a seasonal fruit of high demand, export volume to South Korea is expected to grow up to 10 tonnes per day for the rest of the season.
RGIA & HMACPL teams have developed infrastructure at its cargo terminal, to facilitate exports to potential markets such as South Korea.
Meanwhile, GHIAL & HMACPL are in the process of identifying and enabling similar infrastructure across the catchment areas in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Northern Karnataka and Eastern Maharashtra among others, that can provide the requisite processing facility.
In order to boost the prospects of India’s Mango exports to South Korea, GHIAL & HMACPL has been working closely with APEDA and NPPO.
Telangana and Andhra Pradesh are the largest producers of mangoes in India with 25 per cent share; of which Banganapalli, Suvarnarekha, Cherukurasam and Neelum are the most famous varieties.
India being the largest producer of mangoes has been exporting mangoes to several countries in West Asia, US, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.
GHIAL chief executive officer, SGK Kishore: “Hyderabad being India’s pharma capital, Pharmaceuticals have had the lion’s share of exports out of RGIA over the years. We have been on a constant lookout for increasing our perishables export base.
“The initiative of Mango exports to South Korea will go a long way not only in expanding our perishable exports base but also in strengthening our global footprint. With the current demand and regular feedback from the traders, we are planning to come up with a dedicated perishables handling facility at the Airport soon.”
