Gulf contracts reworked to factor the dollar effect, Rs 175-crore worth vegetable exports through three Kerala airports are back to business from November 1. The vegetable biz, however, has bounced back to export terrain, not with a bang, but with a whimper.
About 100 wholesale buyers and supermarkets in the UAE and Saudi Arabia took the initiative to offer a price mark-up, sliding in the Rs 2 to Rs 5 per kilo band. ?It?s no increase worth writing home about,? says Dil Koshi, secretary, (APPFEA).
?But, at least, the foodchain managers in importing countries made a knee-jerk response, where stakeholders like government of India looked the other way,? he told FE. What hastened the pact was the Gulf buyers? fear that the retail market may slip off, if there was a long spell of supply vacuum.
Air carriers are also mulling a reduction in air cargo costs. Although vegetable-deficit Kerala gets the credit for logging as the highest (85 tonne per day) vegetable exporting airport, 80% of the fruits and vegetables hail from farms in Hosur and Mysore (Karnataka) and Mettupalayam and Tirunelveli (Tamil Nadu). About 60% of these consignments is nentran banana.