Close on the heels of the UAE lifting a ban on import of fruits and vegetables from Kerala, Qatar has also followed suit, with the end of the Nipah virus threat.
The Export Inspection Council received a letter from the Director of Food Safety & Environmental Health, Ministry of Public Health, Qatar, allowing the import of fresh, chilled and frozen vegetables and fruits from Kerala.
The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (Apeda) has also received a similar communication from the Qatar Embassy conveying the decision of the Joint Committee for Human Food Control lifting the ban.
“With this, all the Gulf nations except Saudi Arabia and Bahrain have lifted the ban on exports from the State. We expect Saudi Arabia also to soon lift the embargo as the Haj pilgrimage season has come to an end,” PE Ashraf Ali of Pomona Exports, Kozhikode, told
Though exports were on in full swing following the lifting of the ban, he said the recent floods hadimpacted the shipments. He added that the threat of contagious diseases in Kerala in the aftermath of the floods is also affecting future export consignments.
The 40-day ban in June due to the outbreak of the Nipah virus had impacted fruit and vegetable exports, causing an estimated loss of around $2-3 lakh per day. Kerala ships around 150 tonnes of fruits and vegetables on a daily basis to Gulf countries from the three airports in the State, he said.