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As the United Kingdom faces a shortage of vegetables and fruits due to disruption in supplies from traditional suppliers such as Spain and Morocco due to bad weather, the Indian exporters see an opportunity to ship more fresh produce to the European Union.
Trade sources said there is a shortage of vegetables and fruits in the UK, especially tomatoes, capsicum, cucumber, coriander, bitter gourd, chilli and banana among other produce. It is reported that supermarkets such as TESCO and ASDA among others are limiting the sale of some fruits and vegetables.
“It is definitely an opportunity for Indian exporters,” said Sunil Awari, Senior Vice-President, International Business at Namdhari Seeds Pvt Ltd, a large exporter of babycorn and chilli peppers to Europe.
Shipping unviable
While demand for the vegetables have picked up in UK, the vegetables such as tomatoes and capsicum, lettuce are not exported from India. These products are locally grown or sourced from neighbouring countries and that’s why India does not compete with them commercially as it is not viable to ship the low value produce. However, India can avail the opportunity for increasing the exports to UK, experts said.
“Definitely this is a window of opportunity and we will explore it to strengthen it. UK and Europe is important export destination for Indian Agricultural and Food Products.” said M Angamuthu, Chairman, Agricultural and Processed Foods Export Development Authority (APEDA).
Angamuthu said APEDA will facilitate and promote Indian horticultural and processed food products in a big way. “We will also promote Indian GI and millets products,” he said.
India’s exports of fresh fruits and vegetables to the European Union in quantitative terms were up by 15.46 per cent at 23,671 tonnes during April-December 2022-23 compared with 20,501 tonnes in the same period a year ago. In value terms, the exports of fresh fruits and vegetables to EU were higher by 11 per cent at $35.15 million over $31.5 million a year ago.
The growth in shipments was largely on account of higher exports of fresh grapes. Shipments of fresh vegetables during the period were marginally down at 2,388 tonnes over 2,434 tonnes a year ago.
Namdhari’s Awari said due to high inflation, people in Europe are trying to cut down on exotic foodstuff. Due to the proximity to Europe, the African suppliers from countries such as Kenya, Ghana and Gambia are better placed than the Indian counterparts to take advantage of the current situation.
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