By Clint Thompson
India is a viable export market for Southeast pecans. Growers who have visited the country attest to its viability as a consumer of pecans. This includes Georgia producer Justin Jones.
“The possibility is there. They are the biggest consumers of nuts in the whole world. If every Indian ate two grams of nuts a day, every nut in the world would be gone in 13 days. When I tell you there’s people over there, there’s people,” said Jones during a grower panel discussion at the recent Georgia Pecan Growers Association Conference and Trade Show in Perry, Georgia.
“One good thing about this market as well is 40% of the Indian culture is vegetarian. It’s not like we’re introducing a new product to them with their diet.”
Luxury Item
Jones has already attended a couple of trade mission trips to India that focused on educating potential consumers about pecans. He went in April 2024 and this past February. Pecans were a huge hit, as he estimated they handed out more than 9,000 samples. But growers must be cautious about how the Indian market views pecans.
“The way they’re looking at positioning this nut is a luxury item. We will not fit into India as a competitor to the almonds or the walnuts,” Jones said. “The people we got to know, and they told us this, this nut will fit with a higher price point as a luxury item. I think we need to know the reality of the Indian market; I’ve had a lot of people ask me, ‘Are they going to buy 30 million pounds this year?’ No, they’re not.
“We’re not for the everyday Indian. We’re for the upper class. That doesn’t seem much, but when 10% of the Indian population is upper class; out of 1.4 billion people, that’s 140 million people in the upper class. That’s almost half of the United States population.”
Georgia grower Scott Hudson reiterated Jones’ optimism during the panel discussion. He said the promising future provides growers hope during an era of high input costs and low market prices.
“There’s absolutely no doubt that they want what we have. They want it badly. Just some fine details have to get worked out, and then we have to educate them,” Hudson said. “I can assure you that everyone involved has the utmost interest in getting a lot of volume over there at very respectable prices.”