India gearing toward significantly increasing its banana exports
The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, facilitated the export of bananas from India to Russia via Sea by M/s. Gurukrupa Corporation Pvt. Ltd. a Mumbai-based exporter of fruits and vegetables regularly exports fresh fruits and vegetables to the EU and the Middle East.
A consignment of 20 MT (1540 boxes) of bananas was flagged from Maharashtra by Chairman, of APEDA, Abhishek Dev in a collaborative effort with the Central Institute of Sub-tropical Horticulture (CISH). APEDA highlighted the development of sea protocol employed for this shipment by CISH to maintain the quality of fruit in transit.
Recently, Russia has shown keen interest in the procurement of tropical fruits from India with bananas being one of them, which significantly is a major Agri import of Russia, which was presently, primarily being imported from Ecuador, in Latin America.
The major export destinations for Indian bananas include Iran, Iraq, UAE, Oman, Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia, Nepal, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Afghanistan, and the Maldives. Additionally, the USA, Russia, Japan, Germany, China, the Netherlands, the UK, and France present India with abundant export opportunities.
Banana is a major horticultural produce with Andhra Pradesh being the largest banana-producing state in India, followed by Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Uttar Pradesh. These five states collectively contribute around 67 per cent to India’s banana production in the fiscal year 2022-23.