Barring rice exports, no immediate impact of the crisis in the Red Sea has been reported on Indian trade, commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal said Thursday. “Red Sea disruption is a matter of fact. Till now no immediate impact has been reported,” he said at a press conference.
“When we will get data for the month we will find out whether there has been a significant impact. One industry that has got impacted I am told is rice exports. More details will be known when we get more figures,” Goyal added.
Rice exporters had recently said that freight for consignments headed for Europe has doubled to $4,000 per 2–tonne container since the first report of Houthi ambush.
As Yemen’s Houthi rebels began targeting cargo ships traversing the Suez Canal, major shipping lines of the world started avoiding this route, which meant taking a longer route around Africa to connect Asia and Europe.
Last week, a Japanese tanker with an Indian crew was attacked by drones which prompted India to deploy its 3 warships in the Arabian Sea. As the US, with its allies, intensified patrolling of the Southern Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, confidence has returned. Starting Tuesday the bigger shipping lines of the world have announced the return of some of their vessels to the Suez route.
On Monday, France’s CMA CGM said it is increasing the number of vessels through the waterway. A day later, Maersk announced a similar move.