Kashmiri Growers Celebrate Apple Exemption From UK-India Trade Deal

A major horticultural body in India has hailed the exclusion of apples from the draft UK–India Free Trade Agreement (FTA), describing the move as “critical and farsighted” in protecting local growers from a surge in cheaper imports.

The Kashmir Valley Fruit Growers Cum Dealers Union, which represents fruit producers across the region—including Srinagar, Sopore, Baramulla, Shopian, Pulwama, and Anantnag—said the decision would safeguard the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of apple growers in Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand.

It noted that apple cultivation remains the single largest source of employment in Jammu & Kashmir outside of the public sector.

The Union revealed that it had personally raised the issue with India’s Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan during a recent visit to Srinagar. Multiple representations were also submitted to both central and regional governments, stressing that duty-free apple imports could deal a devastating blow to India’s already struggling fruit economy.

In response to the UK’s decision to keep apples off the list of zero-tariff items, the growers expressed their gratitude to the Indian government “for acting wisely and sensitively”, calling the decision “a much-needed relief amid rising input costs and falling returns.”

However, the Union issued a word of caution—urging similar protective measures in future trade talks with the United States. A potential agreement with the US could pose an even greater threat given the scale of American apple exports, it warned.

Source: GK