Cold Storage: There comes a point in every market when people stop asking whether something is worth more and start asking whether it was sold for more last year.
Apple growers in Kashmir appear to have reached that point.
Following the success of storing apples and releasing them when prices improve, growers have reportedly identified a promising new business strategy: sell the old harvest every year at a higher price. The idea is simple. Harvest the apples, place them in cold storage, wait several months and sell when prices rise. Next year, repeat the process and sell the new old apples at an even higher price.
"If we were able to get more money for last year's apples by waiting, there is no reason we should not expect even more this year," one grower explained. Asked what the apples thought of the arrangement, he said they had been cold at first but were coming around.
Economists have described the strategy as "market-based." The Ministry of Horticulture said it would study the matter, ideally after it had spent some time in storage.
Growers were also quick to point out that a technology company of the same name has sold broadly the same product every year at a higher price for over a decade, and that nobody has asked it to explain itself. One local businessman, asked whether he meant the fruit or the company, said he was open to either.
Interest has since spread beyond horticulture. Shopkeepers are understood to be considering keeping last year's prices on display and introducing a new price every April, allowing customers to appreciate the product's growing value without any unnecessary change to the product itself. Landlords, for their part, said they had been doing this for years.
The concept may eventually extend to salaries. Employees have reportedly begun asking whether their 2025 salary could be stored until 2027 and withdrawn at the prevailing rate. Companies, in turn, could dispense with annual increments by keeping salaries in a controlled-atmosphere facility and releasing them when market conditions improve. Several HR departments said they were already doing this, except for the releasing part.
Critics have noted that stored apples can deteriorate and that prices have been known to fall. Supporters argue that the important thing is not whether the price will rise, but whether it can, and that if it can rise once, there is no obvious reason it cannot rise again.
The real breakthrough, observers say, is a business model in which last year's product can justify this year's price simply by surviving long enough to become this year's product.
The oldest apples in storage are now understood to be the most expensive, which growers say is only fair given their experience. Several are said to be expecting an increment.
