Freight disruptions pose serious challenges to mango exporters

For mangoes, aircraft freight is the only way to capture markets in the Middle East, South Korea, Japan, US, European Union and UK as ocean freight has not been very successful. But as Pansare said at the start of the season, airline companies have decided to increase their rates which has cut into the top lines of exporters. At present, freight charges from Mumbai to Dubai is around Rs 150 per kg while to US it is nearly Rs 550 per kg, which before the start of the season was around Rs 220 per kg.

What has perplexed exporters is the different rates charged by airlines for different cities. Thus for Dubai, if the freight charges from Mumbai is Rs 150 per kg, the same from Kochi is just Rs 80 per kg and from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh it is Rs 35 per kg. “The reason which airlines give us for this differential rates is the higher demand from Mumbai, and lower demand from other cities,” he said.

Majority of the mangoes exported from India are from Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh. Mumbai’s APMC is a major hub for exporters given the large volume of mangoes it handle. The market sees arrival of mangoes from across the country with major export houses operating from the area. The Maharashtra State Agricultural Marketing Board (MSAMB) operates its treatment centres from the Vashi APMC.