Chennai: Fruit juice production has witnessed a smart recovery since its sudden drop in production last June, shows data collected by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE). Back then, fruit juice production suddenly dropped from a high of 6.77 crore litre to nearly half that amount at 3.41 crore litre. Since then, though, juice production has been following more or less an upward curve with consistent increases right through since the beginning of this year. Juice production in January 2012 climbed to 2.04 crore litre, up more than 50% from the December 2011 tally of 1.32 crore litre.
February saw production zoom upwards once again by more than 50% to hit 3.09 crore litre, says CMIE. March and April clocked even higher numbers - 4.64 crore litre and a huge6.09 crore litre respectively. The April tally in fact was the closest the industry has come to the May 2011 high and the second highest tally in 14 months. Though juice production in May 2012 is lower than April, at 5.79 crore litre, it is still the third highest since last March.
Part of the skew can be contributed to seasonality of the raw material and the fact that fruit juice consumption typically hits a peak in summer months so production peaks accordingly. That explains why October and November are dull months for juice production - a trend borne out in 2011. July and August, being bang in the middle of the rainy season, are also dull months for juice consumption and therefore juice production. Fruit pulp production also follows a similar pattern, peaking at the height of summer when demand for fruit juice is the highest. Production jumped in May 2011, zoomed upwards to a yearly high in June, remained high in July and then petered off only to pick up in May 2012. Of course the onset and volume of the monsoon also play a part and fruit pulp production this year will doubtless be impacted by the patchy rains.
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