Agrovilla is one of the prime importers of organic fruits and vegetables from India to the UAE. They supply their products to major and well known retailers in the region. We interviewed their CEO, Rahul Gupta about his company and how they determine what to source in the market.
What type of natural/organic products/services do you sell in the Middle East?
We import around 140 products – that include fruits, vegetables, spices, pulses and more. We import and procure these products from all over India and distribute them to major retailers in the region. We are the market leader in organic imports.
In your opinion, how popular is the organic industry in the UAE and the Middle East?
It is certainly catching up – when we started last year we were online importing one tonne a week and now we are at two and a half tonnes per week. The market has even more potential and growth opportunities in the years to come.
Why, in your opinion, do people prefer buying organic nowadays?
Before switching to importing organic fruits and veggies, we were doing conventional imports for almost ten years. I have visited conventional farms amount of pesticides used is very bad for health. Might as well spend more money now, than face health issues later in life.
How do you determine the products to sell in this market?
All our organic products are globally certified, USDA, MPOP, and goes for a spot check in the UAE. For us, we import our products based on the demand. For example, when we first started, we got a small sample of custard apple and it really clicked. Now we import 200-300 kilos of the same. Other factors that determine what we import, is of course, the season.
Interviewed by Menaka Ramakrishnan, Buyer Manager
menaka@organicandnatural.com