Maha banana exports hit by conflict

Nashik: The banana trade is facing its worst storm in years, with thousands of tonnes of the fruit and the livelihoods behind it hanging in the balance as geopolitical tensions tighten their grip on sea lanes. Banana exports from Maharashtra to West Asia are in chaos with nearly 150 refrigerated containers (each carrying 20 tonnes of fruit) stuck at Mumbai’s JNPA port and nearby private yards, while 35 containers are stuck at Mundra port in Gujarat.On the high seas, things are no better. Several shipments that had been destined for buyers in West Asia were forced into holding areas or diverted to Oman’s Salalah port, where they were hastily unloaded and sold at whatever price the local market offered. Domestically, nearly 4,000 tonnes of bananas destined for export are sitting in cold storages in Jalgaon, Solapur and Pune, depreciating in value day by day.Some shipping lines have cautiously resumed shipments in the past few days, but at high cost, exporters said. Around 140-150 containers have now left the JNPA port, being rerouted via currently functioning ports – Salalah and Sohar in Oman and Khor Fakkan in the UAE – before onward to Dubai and other West Asian destinations. “Before the conflict, the freight per container was around $800. Now, the freight to Dubai alone is hovering around $6,000,” said Sandeep Agrahari, a Nashik exporter, noting that there has been an unprecedented spike in costs. “Everything goes through Salalah and Sohar first. That’s the only way out,” he said.But these “only way out” ports are now clogged with congestion, slowing clearance of goods and fueling exporters’ fears of further delays. There are 35 containers stuck in Agrahari’s logistics chain, eight of which are in JNPA, five in Mundra and 22 near ports in Oman and other regions. “With options dwindling, I am considering shifting the stranded JNPA containers to Oman despite soaring costs, just to sell them locally or reroute them to the UAE market before the fruit loses value,” Agrahari said.

The blow is severe as the West Asian market accounts for nearly 80% of the state’s banana shipments. Maharashtra typically exports 700,000 tonnes annually in about 35,000 containers to major destinations such as Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, UAE and Yemen.The shadow of conflict is evident in pricing. Export prices have fallen from Rs 23-27 to Rs 13-14 per kg and domestic prices have fallen to Rs 7-8 per kg, deepening the anxiety of farmers and exporters.