NEW DELHI: Despite the ban on wheat and restrictions on rice exports, India’s overall food exports are still going strong on the back of strong pick-up in shipments of fruits and vegetables. The government is developing protocols for transport of these products through sea to grab a larger share of the market, a senior official said Tuesday.
At present, high-value fruits and vegetables are shipped through air which jacks up costs and blunts the competitive edge in world markets. To address this, sea protocols are being developed for bananas, mangoes, pomegranates and jack fruit that would reduce the transportation costs and increase volumes, additional secretary in the ministry of commerce Rajesh Agarwal said.
The protocol includes understanding voyage time, scientifically understanding the ripening cycle of these products so that they are harvested at the right time and can survive the time taken for reaching the shelves of supermarkets. These protocols will be different for different fruits and vegetables and will also involve training of farmers
To start with, the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), along with other stakeholders, has developed these protocols for bananas.
“We did dummy testing in a container, and now, for actual testing, the first container has been shipped to Rotterdam, the Netherlands. We are confident that it will be successful, and once this is done and importers start accepting it, the volumes will increase in a substantial way, he added.
Importing countries will also have to come on board to accept those consignments.
For the trial shipment of bananas the Agricultural and Processed Foods Products Export Development Authority has enlisted the support of Central Institute of Subtropical Horticulture in Lucknow. Del Monte for marketing and distribution in Europe and Maersk for logistics.
Despite being the world’s largest banana producer, India’s export share is currently just 1% in the global market, even though the country accounts for 26.5% of the world’s banana production at 35.36 million metric tonnes. In 2022-23, India exported 0.36 MT bananas worth $176 million.
During April-August this year, mango exports rose by 19 % to $ 47.98 million. Besides the US, the major destinations include Japan, New Zealand, Australia and South Africa. In April-October this fiscal, exports of fruits and vegetables grew by about 13 per cent to about $ 1.8 billion.
Besides fruits and vegetables, the food exports are being helped by revival in marine exports in the last few months.
Source: The Financial Express
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