Pettah, the hub of fruit sellers

By Ananda KANNANGARA

Fruit stalls in the Pettah, Bambalapitiya and Borella

It was rare to witness a scene at the bo-tree junction , Pettah where foreign nationals were buying bags full of fruits. A group of Canadian nationals including three females were accompanied by a Sri Lankan. All of them were under the bo-tree, buying fruits.

The white vehicle which the foreigners travelled was parked opposite the M.D. Gunasena Book Shop. As it was around 6.30 pm the area was deserted and there was no obstruction from the City Traffic Police to park vehicles even under the bo-tree.

Having spotted this rare scene we spoke to the foreigners. The driver of the vehicle who was also a Sri Lankan spoke fluent English and Canadian.

Among the Canadians, three were fluent in English. They had visited Sri Lanka on a three-week tour at the invitation of the Mahaweli Ministry. Four of them including a female were Engineers by profession.

They were on their way to the Mahaweli Zone in the Anuradhapura and Trincomalee districts to oversee the on-going construction projects.

Peter Emings, a member of the party said they came to the Pettah to buy fruits for their four-day stay in the Mahaweli Zone.

According to Peter, the fruits were very cheap in the Pettah compared at the exhobitant prices of their five-star hotel in Colombo. He thanked the driver of the vehicle for helping them to purchase verities of fruits in the Pettah at very cheap rates.

He said during his next visit to Colombo, probably in March next year he would buy fresh fruits not from the hotel, but from fruit stalls in the Pettah.

Unlike other cities in Colombo, Pettah has become the hub for fruits, especially for imported verities such as red and green apples, oranges, grapes, tangerine, pears and pomegranates.

The monopoly for imported fruits in Sri Lanka is in the hands of about 20 importers and all of them have their shops in the city of Colombo.

Among them Sunil Traders, Nawagiri fruit importers, Kegalle Fresh Fruit, Ajith Enterprises, Sandakelum fruits and Shanika Quality Fruits are the major fruit importers.

According to the Manager of Sunil Traders, Indika Wijetunga, fruit business has become a major livelihood for people all over the country today. Imported fruits are sold not only in Colombo but also in other cities.

“We have refrigerated lorries to distribute fresh fruits to major cities in the country, In addition we are the sole agents to supply fresh fruits to several leading supermarkets.”

He said about ten containers of fruits arrive in the Colombo Port everyday from Australia, America, China, Italy, France, New Zealand, South Africa, Israel, India and Pakistan.

Indika said according to Health and insurance regulations, fruits are imported only in freeze containers, since the correct temperature had to be maintained for fruit verities.

He said freeze containers are specially manufactured to transport medicine, vegetables, fruits and fresh fish and meat products.

A large-scale fruit importer, Gamini Silva of Kollupitiya said transportation of fruits are carefully handled by suppliers in foreign countries, according to health regulations.

“It takes three days to import fruits from India, one month from America, two weeks from Australia and around three weeks from China.

If there is a change of the time duration the local agent will have to check the quality of fruits whether they are suitable for human consumption.

Asked about the quality of fruits which are purchased by ordinary customers without knowing the quality or the actual date of import, he said nobody should be worried over the quality of fruits available in supermarkets or other reputed sales outlets, since all fruits are checked daily and unsuitable fruits returned to the supplier.

A fruit businessman in Colombo, I.R . David said he has been in the fruit business for the past ten years.

He said some verities of fruits such as red apple, pomegranates, green grapes and big oranges could be kept under freeze compartments for only about three weeks, but no supermarket in the country has so far complained that they keep fruits for more than five days, since there is a great demand for fruits generally available in supermarkets and other reputed sales outlets,”.

According to David, people have a wrong impression that various kinds of chemicals are used to preserve the quality of imported fruits and said chemicals would never be used for imported fruits because if chemicals are used, the colour and the taste of fruits change.

He further said chemicals are used to local fruits such as mangoes and pineapple.

Asked about the price differences of imported fruits at super markets and on pavements in the city, he said no person import inferior quality fruits to the country, and genuine suppliers in foreign countries do not send such fruits, since both parties are aware that it will tarnish the good name of the supplier and also badly affect the industry.

He also said generally fruits that are imported from countries such as America, Australia and France are in high quality and they are sent to supermarkets and other reputed outlets.

“But, sometimes fruits that are coming from other countries at cheap rates and also damaged fruits are sold at very cheap rates. This can be clearly seen with the different prices at super markets and ordinary fruit stalls in the Pettah”.

He said all varieties of fruits are not coming from one country. Each country is famous for a different variety of fruits.

“India, Pakistan and Israel is famous for grapes, oranges and pomegranates, while China is famous for grapes and pears. South Africa is famous for green apple, tangerine, oranges and apple. Italy is famous only for grapes.

America and Australia are famous for high quality apple , oranges and also grapes,”.

A fruit seller at the Bo-tree junction Pettah, P. Samuel said he has been in the business for the past 17 years and sells both local and imported fruits.

“To be frank, we purchase only low priced and simply damaged fruits directly from importers and sell them at very low rates to cover up our daily spendings,” A fruit importer, Gunasiri Hewage requested the authorities to stop selling fruits at open places on pavements, since they get spoilt due to dust on the streets.

He proposed the authorities to provide them with glass cubicles, so that pavement hawkers could use cubicles to sell fruits, instead of keeping them in open places.

He said in Singapore and some parts of India fruits cannot be sold in open areas to preserve the high quality and anybody violating this law will be fined. He also asked Health officials attached to the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) to warn fruit sellers in the Pettah and other places to refrain from selling fruits in open places. A fruit seller wanted the CMC to provide adequate parking facilities in the Pettah to enable customers to buy fruits and other needs without any problem.