Freshness Unlocked: Revolutionising Grape Packaging for Global Trade

India is amongst the world’s largest producers of fruits and vegetables and is a key supplier of fresh agricultural products to neighbouring countries. Indian grapes, well known for their delicious taste and attractive physical appearance, are in high demand in the Middle East and Europe.

Traditionally, grapes were packed in corrugated boxes. This posed several issues for the traders, who were always on the lookout for more reliable and attractive packaging, especially for the export market. In 2002, sensing this as an opportunity, K. K. Nag designed and developed a new Expanded Polystyrene (Thermocole) packaging solution for grapes.

The product development was not a simple task and the most difficult aspect was making the boxes aesthetically pleasing. The grape exporters were extremely sceptical about the look and feel of the packaging, its sturdiness and the freshness of the produce during the long transit cycle. There were also concerns about the difference in the costs of the new packaging versus the traditional one.

Nevertheless, the K. K. Nag team was determined to undertake the challenge and we designed a perfect prototype box that was shown to as many buyers as possible. The Sales team spent several weeks visiting exporters at their farms, experts on the governing body of MRDBS (Maharashtra Rajya Draksh Bagaitdar Sangh), members of the National Research Centre for Grapes (ICAR, Pune) and growers/traders at the annual summits.

Our efforts paid off and a few months later, we found our first buyer – a leading fruit exporter based in Sangli, Maharashtra. The pilot order of 500 boxes was to be tested
in the Gulf markets during the festive period of Ramadan. The trial was successful and we were able to get constructive feedback from the market.

K. K. Nag Private Limited created the market for Expanded Polystyrene grape boxes in India and, we are proud to say, the design of the boxes that we kkrafted more than 20 years ago, continues to be the standard for grape exports from India.