Himachal cm urges centre to impose at least 100 percent import duty on apples from turkey - the statesman

Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to increase import duty on apples from 50 percent to at least 100 percent to discourage

the import of apples from Turkey and to safeguard the interests of apple growers in Himachal Pradesh. He also urged that quantitative restrictions should be imposed on imported apples.

Advertisement In a letter to the Prime Minister, the Chief Minister said that Himachal Pradesh is known as the ‘Apple Bowl’ of the country and is famous for producing delicious varieties of

apples. Advertisement Apple is the prime cash crop of the state and generates an income of about Rs 4,500 crore annually. He said that the apple crop creates around 10 lakh mandays,

providing direct and indirect employment to more than 2.50 lakh families. Sukhu stated that apples are currently being imported from nearly 31 countries, with about 5.19 lakh metric tonnes

of fresh apples imported in 2024, an increase of nearly 500 times compared to 1,100 metric tonnes imported in 1998. He added that the import share from Turkey has risen since 2020, reaching

a record high of 1.29 lakh metric tonnes in 2023. Sukhu said that a substantial import of 1.17 lakh metric tonnes of apples was made from Turkey in 2024, accounting for 23 percent of the

total apple imports. The Chief Minister said that apples from Turkey have been flooding Indian markets in recent years, posing a serious threat to apple growers in the country. The influx of

apples from Turkey has not only undermined the competitiveness of local apple producers but also jeopardised the livelihoods of small and marginal apple growers of Himachal Pradesh,

Uttarakhand, and the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. The Chief Minister said that he would personally raise the issue of increasing the import duty on apples from Turkey with the Prime

Minister during his upcoming visit to Delhi. Advertisement