India, Feb. 9 -- In the first week of February, an apple grower from Himachal Pradesh, Rati Ram Chauhan, was trying to sell his produce, kept in cold storage since October 2025, at the fruit wholesale market of Chandigarh. Despite negotiating for four days, he failed to find any buyer willing to offer a reasonable price for his apples.

Chauhan, and other growers like him, say the news of impending free trade agreements with New Zealand and the United States has queered the pitch -- buyers were not willing to pay even the price he was getting for his produce in October.

"I had no option but to get the product repackaged and transport it to Bihar. I don't know if I will recover the cost of cold storage, repacking, and transportation now. ...