Shimla, Dec 30 (IANS) To help apple growers, the Himachal Pradesh government has decided to set up another apple juice concentrate facility in the state, according to Horticulture Minister Narender Bragta.
“We have decided to set up another apple juice concentrate plant at Gumma in Shimla district. This is in addition to the Parwanoo plant (in Solan district),” Bragta told IANS here Wednesday.

The unit will be set up on an outlay of Rs.23 crore, the minister said.

The decision to set up the plant was taken by the board of the Horticultural Produce Marketing and Processing Corp (HPMC) in Shimla Tuesday.

“The board approved proposal for upgrading existing packing and grading houses under a central government scheme,” Bragta said.

Leading food and beverage companies like Parle Agro, Godrej Industries, Nestle and Mohan Meakins regularly source apple concentrates from the HPMC, though of late, cheaper imports from China is posing a stiff competition.

Subsequently, Himachal Pradesh has asked the central government to increase import duty on apple juice concentrate from China.

China sells concentrates to Indian food and beverage companies at Rs.45-50 per kg whereas that produced by HPMC is sold at Rs.80 per kg.

“The import duty should be increased to 75 percent from 37.5 percent,” Bragta said.

HPMC procures the apples directly from farmers. In 2008-09, of the 21,400 tonnes procured, about 8,000 tonnes were processed.

It had produced over 721 tonnes of juice concentrate, of which 400 tonnes are lying unsold.

Himachal Pradesh is one of India’s major apple-producing regions.

Its apple economy is worth around Rs.1,500 crore and flourishes mainly in Shimla, Kullu, Mandi, Lahaul and Spiti, Kinnaur and Chamba districts.