Exporting mango to US is sour experience: Khullar

Exporting mango to the United States is now turning out to be a bitter experience, Commerce Secretary Rahul Khullar has said.

"Over the last 2-3 years, roughly about $2 million worth of mangoes have been exported to the United States," Khullar told a group of Indian journalists yesterday.

A sizeable chunk of this – 14% – is spent on radiation checks by US inspectors, which not only bumps up the cost but also slows the entire export process, he added.

"So, the real issue is that to get a revenue stream of $2 million, I have to spend roughly $300,000 as a pay out in terms of inspection cost before I can export those mangoes. That’s very expensive," he said.

The commerce secretary said the key issue that exporters faced was in reducing the costs so that they could price the mangoes competitively and export more.

The issue, Khullar said, has been raised with the US authorities, who are trying to work out a solution, in the works right now.