The ongoing pandemic has shifted our focus from a hectic schedule and busy lifestyle back to health and fitness. Healthy eating habits are on people’s checklist list again now that improving immunity is the major prevention, we all can take during the COVID-19 pandemic.
This unkempt focus on healthy and fresh eating has also increased the demand for fresh fruits in India as well as other countries. And Kalya Exports is among the export companies meeting the demand for Indian fruits and delivering freshness in the global market.
In an interview with Insights Success, Mr. Tribhuvanlal Kalya, Proprietor shares his motivation behind establishing Kalya and how the company is delivering the goodness of local fruits across countries.
Read the following interview to know more about the genesis of Kalya Exports, how the company survived the pandemic, and its motto to help farmers receive the right returns on their produce by improving logistics and packaging processes.
Kindly brief us about Kalya Exports and its key operations.
Kalya Exports, established in 1993, it is one of the early Indian company in the industry of fresh fruits and vegetable exports. Kalya Exports is a star export house and recognized export company by the government of India. We export fresh Indian fruits and vegetables to 20 countries across the world.
Kalya Exports recently won the ‘cold chain award 2020’ from the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). Kalya Exports owns a state-of-the-art cold store and packing house in Nashik.
What products and services Kalya Exports offer? How does the company handle logistics?
Kalya Exports mainly deals in the export of table grapes. To supply quality fruit, innovative packing methods, high-grade packing material, and timely delivery are our key strengths. We collaborate with our logistics partner in Mumbai with whom we have been working for the last 22 years.
What are the USPs of the company that serves as an advantage over competitors and benefit clients/customers?
Kalya Exports owns two state-of-the-art cold stores and packing houses in Nashik, which is also known as the grape capital of India. We are associated with more than 700 farmers whom we continuously guide from day 1 of plantation till harvesting. The company-owned packhouse allows us to fully control the quality and packing of the produce.
The industry expertise and technical know-how of the cold store, pre and post-harvesting methods have helped us to reduce wastage and increase the income of farmers over the years.
Share with us the challenges faced by companies in the cold storage sector?
The cost of operation of the cold store is high that adds substantial cost to the total costing. Uninterrupted electricity, water supply, and providing the subsidies wherever possible will help reducing the cost and to supply the products at more competitive prices.
What are the basic criteria or checkpoints that must be fulfilled/followed to start cold storage?
All our products get exported, so we need to follow the international standards. Our packhouse and cold store are certified with BRC, global GAP, SMETA, and other globally accepted norms.
What would be your recommendations to improve the coordination between farmers, the cold storage companies, and distributors so that the product is delivered to the end customers in time?
Logistics plays an important role in getting harvested fresh produce from farms to the cold store. Efficient and effective handling of logistics can improve the quality as well as the shelf life of the fruit and ultimately overall returns to the farmers.
How did the pandemic affect the company? How do you plan to overcome the same?
COVID-19 pandemic affected most of our business operations last year. Workers had to return to their hometown, logistics of incoming and outgoing movement of the fresh fruits and vegetables as well as transportation of packed goods to the ports got affected.
However, with effective planning and organization, we were able to overcome the challenges thrown by the pandemic to minimize its impact on the business. We are grateful to the Indian government’s norms which allowed the export industry to work during a pandemic.
Brief us about the future perspectives of Kalya Exports.
Our focus has been on mainly table grapes, and in traditional markets like Europe and the UK. But we are gradually adding new fruits like pomegranate, mango,
etc to our product portfolio, We are also working on to acquire new markets in
Russia, China, and Southeast Asian countries.
