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India Imports $100 Million Almond from California |
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WASHINGTON: From a small beginning in 1970s, India now imports over $100 million worth of California almond making it the number-one US export to India.
"In the 1970s, Blue Diamond provided the Indian market with California almonds, a relationship that still exists today. India now imports over $100 million of California almonds, making almonds the number-one US export to India," Congressman Dennis A Cardoza, said.
In his speech on the floor of the US House of Representatives, Cardoza recognised Blue Diamond Growers, celebrating 100 years of quality service, both domestically and worldwide.
"The seed for this American icon was planted on May 6, 1910, by 230 California almond growers, forming the California Almond Growers Exchange, a cooperative created to establish a market for quality almond production," he said.
"Sixty per cent of California's almond growers joined the cooperative, giving birth to the US' first almond brand, the Blue Diamond, named after the world's rarest and most precious of gems, a true symbol of quality," he said.
Noting that Blue Diamond exported California almonds to Russia when it was still known as the Soviet Union, the Congressman said Blue Diamond is currently expanding the almond market in China, which ranks among the largest in the world for California almonds.
"From Blue Diamond's modest beginnings as a small industry of three million pounds of almonds in 1910, California is now producing more than 1.65 billion pounds and 80 per cent of the global supply. Blue Diamond's business has grown to nearly USD 1 billion with over half of the state's almond growers owning the cooperative," he said.
"Due to Blue Diamond's diligence and commitment to quality, almonds are now California's largest food export and rank as the largest tree crop in the world. Blue Diamond represents the best of the American entrepreneurial spirit and its products have become ingrained in many aspects of Americans lives," Cardoza said.
Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com
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