A

series of major Balinese Hindu festivals that fall between late March and early April have triggered a soaring demand for fruits, which are used as religious offerings. However, the rise in demand does not mean huge profits for local growers, as consumers prefer imported fruits.

Andi Wibowo, a distributer of imported fruits, said sales in March were ten times higher than normal.

"However, the selling of imported fruits is consistently much higher than the selling of local fruits. Imported fruits contribute 60 percent to total sales," he said.

In March, he can sell up to a hundred boxes of imported fruits in a single day. The demand for local fruits, he said, only increases when there is a shortage of imported varities. Wibowo said that imported fruits boast more attractive colors and shapes compared local varieties, and moreover, their price is very competitive.

"Nine kilograms of Ponkan-branded oranges imported from China is sold at a wholesale price of Rp 80,000, while local oranges from Banyuwangi, East Java, sell for Rp 70,000," he said.

Gusti Putu Poni, a local fruit wholesaler, concurred, adding that even months with many religious festivals, including March and April, fail to trigger a significant increase in demand for local fruits.

"The demand for local fruits is minuscule," she said.

Poni has been in the business for 15 years and she relies on regular customers, who have been purchasing fruit from her for years.

Demand is not the only thing that refuses to go up in the local fruit trade. She pointed out that the prices of the local fruit remains the same throughout the busy months.

"Unfortunately, the price of local fruits tends to decrease. A slight increase in the supply is enough to drive prices to the bottom. On the other hand, the price of imported fruits is relatively stable to supply fluctuations," she said.

Poni, a Balinese Hindu housewife, said local housewives prefer to use imported fruit for their offerings because of thier attractive colors.

"Oranges imported from China have vivid skin colors, Apples from Australia and the US have deep red colors. An offering made up of these imported fruits looks better than one comprised of local fruits. Not to mention that it will give an aura of lavishness," she said.

The supremacy of imported fruits is quite evident looking at the rows of fruit shops that line both sides of Jl. Ternate in downtown Denpasar. The vast majority of the shops are filled with boxes of imported fruits and only five shops, including Poni's, still offer local varities.

Curiously, the Bali Trade and Industry Agency has no data on the volume of imported fruits traded on the island.

"Imported fruits are distributed directly from Surabaya in East Java. We have no data on this matter," head of the agency Gede Dharmaja said.

He added that the government does not monitor the trade in imported fruit closely as the fruits are not strategic commodities like rice and sugar.

Local fruits do not fare well on the global market, they constituted just 0.44 percent of the island's US$ 38.5 million in total exports in 2008.