Poor infra slows grain exports

After several years, the Government has started allowing exports of rice, wheat maize and sugar. But the question before the Commerce Ministry is, are the country's ports geared to handle the projected volume of exports? Perhaps not, it is feared: and the fear may not be totally unfounded.

The Kakinada anchorage port on the East coast is finding it hard to handle rice exports largely due to poor rail and port infrastructure. Kandla port on the West coast is supposed to handle exports shortly, as the kharif crops are due for arrival. But Kandla, as it is well-known, suffers from an acute pre-berthing detention.

The export of an estimated seven lakh tonnes of sugar is on the cards and the shipment has to move in the next three months or so. But the exporting port is yet to be identified. There is talk of allowing sugar exports in containers.

The major container handling ports on East and West coasts being afflicted with myriad problems — congestion, pre-berthing detention, infrastructure bottlenecks, and draft restriction in river ports such as Kolkata and Haldia — the exporting community is keeping the fingers crossed.

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