The Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir has inaugurated foreign shipments of specialty cherries, beginning with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
After the initial shipment on June 16, 2025, Union Minister of Commerce & Industry Piyush Goyal lauded the breakthrough as “cheer-worthy.”
Goyal also wrote on his X platform account that local farmers will now be able to garner good cherry prices abroad.
The development follows a May 31, 2025 flag-off of an exclusive cherry cargo train that ferried 24 tonnes from JK to Mumbai.
Kashmir, which borders a namesake region in Pakistan, accounts for 95% of all-India cherry output, mainly Double and Mishri cultivars.
Regional production could increase to satiate Middle East’s ever-growing appetite for cherries. According to Index Box, the Gulf/Levant volumes could hit 369,000 tonnes by 2035, with Saudi Arabia already consuming 6,200 tonnes in 2024.
Cherry exports constitute a current larger plan by India to export high-end fruits and vegetables to premium markets.
Under priority are specialty deciduous fruits, from pomes like apples and pears to stone fruits such as plums and cherries.
This is besides traditional fruit exports that include pomegranates, grapes, mangoes, oranges and bananas.
In the year ending March 2025, fruit and vegetable exports had witnessed 5.67% growth to $3.87 billion, up from $3.66 billion.
With such momentum, sweet cherries (Prunus avium) from Kashmir and other Indian production zones will also help northern India’s saffron and walnuts gain foreign markets. And as the stats below show, JK is stepping up the game in India’s cherry trade.
Indian Kashmir Cherries Statistics
There are three key states that produce cherries in India that include Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. According to the Kashmir Life web journal, Jammu and Kashmir represents 95% of the national production. In the larger context, cherry production in India emerged in as late as the 16th century via the Middle-East. By the early 2010s, however, harvest volumes had increased to 13,400 tonnes per annum. During the same period, the subcontinent ranked 26th worldwide with a 0.6% global production share. Ten years later in the early 2020s, production had more than doubled.
General stats on Kashmir’s cherry production:
Kashmir grows sweet cherries on some 2,952 hectares, which produce an average 23,115 tonnes annually, as of 2024. The sector supports 14,000 households, which grow the stone fruit as an early cash crop.
How was cherry output by region in Kashmir in 2024-25?
Ganderbal led Kashmir’s 2024-25 cherry output at over 9,094 tonnes, ahead of Shopian with 4,927 tonnes and Srinagar at 3,157 tonnes.
Which are the two leading cherry varietals in JK?
Double or B. Napoleon varietal and Mishri account for 30% of Kashmir’s annual cherry production.
How big is consumption in key foreign markets of Kashmiri cherries?
The UAE and Saudi Arabia were in June 2025 the first export markets for premium cherries from Jammu-Kashmir. Saudi Arabia had an annual consumption of 6,200 tonnes in 2024, according to Index Box. The UAE’s consumption, on the other hand, represented 48.48% of the national market value share in 2024, according to Grand View Research.