The US had restricted the import of Indian mangoes due to Covid-19 travel restrictions in 2020.
For all Indians in America – this summer will be a special one, as the South Asian grocery stores will once again stock up on the delicious Alphonso mangoes from the Indian subcontinent.
With the easing of the pandemic restrictions and international travel opening up on the mangoes will be readily available again because the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has given approval to India to export mangoes to America. Since the USDA inspectors were not able to come to India to inspect the fruit (a non-negotiable step for the US to allow import of mangoes), they’d banned the import of Indian mangoes altogether.
.
The USDA approval would now mean that India can export mangoes regions such as Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Some of the Indian mango varieties that are in demand in the US are chausa, dussheri, langara or sindoori.
The approval came as a part of the US Trade Policy Forum (TPF) meeting where the US and India signed an agreement to follow a joint protocol on irradiation for India’s mango and pomegranate exports. India will resume its export of mangoes from this mango season with the legendary Alphonso variety.
And just to leave you with some numbers, in 2019-20 $4.35 million worth of mangoes were exported to USA, nearly 20% up from $3.63 million in 2018-19.