India: Baby corn,peas & carrot exporters cash in on rupee slide
While frozen sweet corn, peas and carrot are sent to Mumbai port from Punjab, from where it is exported to dedicated markets in Gulf region, including Saudi Arabia, fresh baby corn is sent by air from Delhi to European countries with Asiatic population.
"We gave up the business in 2008. But now, we are recalculating the logistics, considering the disadvantage of sending stocks all the way to Delhi," said Amandeep Bhullar, an entrepreneur from Amritsar.
"Export of vegetables has become very attractive after rupee started losing value," said N S Brar, a leading exporter of fresh vegetables, having a plant near Rajpura. "There is big demand for frozen sweet corn and peas in west Asia, with exports at 1,000 to 1,500 tonnes annually. There is a good scope to increase the exports to this region. The frozen vegetables are carried by ships, keeping the items at minus 18 degrees," he said.
Claiming that the state government was doing its bit to promote exports of these perishable commodities, Pradeep Sharma, general manager, Punjab Agro Export Corporation, said that the issue of reintroduction of direct flight to UK from Amritsar has been taken up again recently with Airports Authority of India ( AAI).
Regarding freight duty subsidy, an official said that it has not been stopped, but that it has only not been released for the past two years, due to fund crunch.
Source: indiatimes.com
