Perishables export at a standstill as standoff with airlines continue

Aarti Shetty

Mumbai, Oct 17: Exports of all perishable items have come to a standstill from Wednesday (October 17) following the hike in air freight rates resorted to by the airline companies from Monday.

After the failure of efforts to negotiate total withdrawal of the security surcharge levied recently by the airline companies, exporters in western and southern parts of the country have resorted to an indefinite strike that they had threatened earlier this week.

The strike was to protest against the recent increase in air freight rates by the airline companies, they said.

Accordingly, exports of perishables like fruits, vegetables, cut flowers, meat and fish all over the country has come to a complete standstill, beginning this morning.

However, the export activities in Delhi and northern region has been unaffected as there was no security surcharge levied for exports from this regions, the exporters said.

Said an exporter:”This strike would result in fruits and
vegetable exports suffer the most as they form a major chunk of the total perishable exports basket”.

Nearly 80 per cent of India’s total perishable exports by air is carried out at Mumbai.

Out of the 50,000 tonnes (approximately Rs 1,200 crore) of perishable goods exported annually by air from Mumbai, vegetable and fruits account for nearly 47 per cent to around 34,000 tonnes.
Therefore, the magnitude of losses incurred by the fruits and vegetable exporters will be immense.

Almost a month after the terrorist attacks on the US on September 11, majority of airline companies have introduced “security surcharge” last week say of Rs 5-7 per kg on various perishable goods.

Exporters, however, said this was too steep and had requested the airline companies to lower them. But the airline companies refused to fall in line.

Following the representation from the exporters of perishable commodities, airline companies had agreed to lower this surcharge to around Rs 2-5 per kg, which too was not acceptble by the exporters who want the security surcharge withdrawn completely.

This standoff between the exporters and the airline companies has resulted in exports of perishable products coming to a total standstill from Mumbai, Thiruvananthapuram, Cochin and other parts.