The dedicated ripening chamber has been built in Navi Mumbai, near the APMC market and was launched at a ceremony on August 17, 2023. In addition to Westfalia Fruit India leadership team, the launch ceremony was attended by leading fruit distributors, wholesalers, offline retailers, and e-commerce operators.
Westfalia Fruit India has established itself as the market leader and largest importer of avocados in India. Westfalia Fruit started its India journey last year has already supplied over 1,000 MT of avocados to the Indian market in 2023. This year also marks the first year of commercial harvest of Indian grown Hass avocados. Over the next few years, over 500 acres of our existing Hass avocado plantations in Southern India will come into production, enabling consistent year-round availability of avocados for consumers.
Speaking at the launch, Zac Bard, Director – Westfalia Fruit India, said that “Avocado ripeness has been a challenge for both retailers and consumers in India. Many consumers in India are not sure when is the perfect time to eat an avocado. Retailers also at times are unaware how to differently handle Hass avocados at different stages of their ripeness. Our perfectly ripened avocados will look to address this gap in the market.”
“Westfalia ripe and ready to eat avocados will be available in a special punnet and consumers can be assured of consistent quality and ripeness. This ripening facility will be a milestone in India and will change the way avocados are marketed and consumed,” added Zac.
“Westfalia Fruit India is excellently placed to offer avocados consistently from multiple origins all year round mentioned,” Mr. GVK Naidu, Director – Westfalia Fruit India and MD of Sam Agri group, the Indian JV partners of Westfalia. “This ripening facility in Mumbai is just the start and in the coming months, we will have similar facilities in other major metros of the country,” added Naidu.