Indian fruits, vegetables supply to Dubai stopped
Wednesday, 31 October 2007
DUBAI, Oct 30 (PTI): Fresh fruit and vegetables from South India, popular among the large Indian community, have almost disappeared from the main market and retail shops in Dubai after producers stopped exports to the UAE from three airports in Kerala.
Suppliers banned the export of fruit and vegetables Thursday last saying they were facing huge losses due to the steep appreciation of the Indian rupee against the US dollar, to which the UAE dirham is pegged, a report said Monday.
"The exporters signed supply contracts with importers in the UAE in 2003 when the dollar was equal to Rs.44. However, today it is equal to Rs.39," Suresh Mathew from the Agricultural Process Food Exporters Association (APFEA) was quoted as saying by Emirates Today paper.
Mathew said the association has been attempting to renegotiate prices but was forced to stop all exports of fresh fruit and vegetables after importers did not respond.
Traders at the Al Aweer Fruit and Vegetable Market here told the paper that their supplies of Indian bananas, curry leaves, mangoes, bitter gourds, beans and cucumbers have dried up after suppliers stopped exports from airports in Kerala.
"Vegetables and fruits from Mumbai are coming to Dubai through [shipping] containers. These products arrive after a week. Today there is an acute shortage of fresh fruits and vegetables in the market, especially for Indian bananas and curry leaves, which come only from Kerala," Mohammed Fadhil from Gold Fruit International, a leading wholesale dealer in Al Aweer, said.
"These items reach Dubai within six to seven hours after picking from the farms. Dealers sell about 15 tonnes of Indian bananas every day."
In the past 18 months, the Indian rupee gained 14 per cent against the dollar, increasing calls from exporters that their products are being sold for too little in the Middle East.
Indian exporters are asking for the price of five kilogrammes of bananas to be raised to Dh33 from the current price of Dh27.
Suppliers banned the export of fruit and vegetables Thursday last saying they were facing huge losses due to the steep appreciation of the Indian rupee against the US dollar, to which the UAE dirham is pegged, a report said Monday.
"The exporters signed supply contracts with importers in the UAE in 2003 when the dollar was equal to Rs.44. However, today it is equal to Rs.39," Suresh Mathew from the Agricultural Process Food Exporters Association (APFEA) was quoted as saying by Emirates Today paper.
Mathew said the association has been attempting to renegotiate prices but was forced to stop all exports of fresh fruit and vegetables after importers did not respond.
Traders at the Al Aweer Fruit and Vegetable Market here told the paper that their supplies of Indian bananas, curry leaves, mangoes, bitter gourds, beans and cucumbers have dried up after suppliers stopped exports from airports in Kerala.
"Vegetables and fruits from Mumbai are coming to Dubai through [shipping] containers. These products arrive after a week. Today there is an acute shortage of fresh fruits and vegetables in the market, especially for Indian bananas and curry leaves, which come only from Kerala," Mohammed Fadhil from Gold Fruit International, a leading wholesale dealer in Al Aweer, said.
"These items reach Dubai within six to seven hours after picking from the farms. Dealers sell about 15 tonnes of Indian bananas every day."
In the past 18 months, the Indian rupee gained 14 per cent against the dollar, increasing calls from exporters that their products are being sold for too little in the Middle East.
Indian exporters are asking for the price of five kilogrammes of bananas to be raised to Dh33 from the current price of Dh27.