The Indian grape harvest started with white seedless varieties in early December and started packing the fruit for destinations like Russia and South-East Asia. According to one trader from Nashik, they started harvesting the fruit for Europe in late January and started shipments to European ports in early February, he said that so far the quality this year is very good, except for some challenges with lower sugar levels until the early weeks of February, but now the grapes have a nice size, colour, and sugar/Brix.
“After starting our harvesting in early December, we had to stop the packing due to the rain in the second and third weeks of December. But later we were fortunate to get good weather conditions this season so did not have many interruptions due to the rain,” explains the trader.
The volumes are still too low this season as yet, as the season started late this year and also the increased sea freight has impacted the number of shipments going out of India. The cost of sea freight from India to all the destinations has increased by almost 100% compared to last year’s rates.
The fact that good returns are not guaranteed from partners in Europe due to the increased sea freight has reduced the confidence of many exporters in India.
The trader’s main export destination is Europe, but this year he is diverting his attention from Europe and is concentrating more on Russia and Asian markets, as the transit time, as well as the cost of the sea freight, is lower and also the shipment and payment cycle is quicker.
“The overall world economy is still trying to get out of challenges thrown up by the Covid-19 pandemic situation, the markets are working as normal so as to cover our costs. We are not expecting much this year. The very high cost of sea freight is a challenge but getting boxes for the shipments from the shipping line is going smoothly so far.”
