The closure of Strait of Hormuz, the vital narrow shipping lane linking the Gulf to global markets, has stranded vessels carrying bananas from India, leaving exporters scrambling to save thousands of tonnes of the highly perishable cargo.
India exports about ₹3,500 crore ($382 million) worth of bananas every year, according to Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (DGCIS) data.
West Asia is the largest consumer of Indian bananas, accounting for up to 90% of exports with nearly 40% shipped to Iraq alone.
With ships unable or unwilling to pass through the Hormuz since the outbreak of the conflict, some vessels are waiting outside the Strait while others are turning back, injecting supplies in the Indian market and further suppressing domestic banana prices which have already fallen by about 30%.
The disruption hit at a critical juncture when Maharashtra, which accounts for more than 80% of India’s banana exports, was ramping up shipments to meet Ramzan demand across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries.
“We have been firefighting ever since the war has started,” said a leading banana exporter, requesting anonymity. “Some vessels with banana containers have not been allowed to berth at their destination ports. Some vessels are waiting outside the Strait of Hormuz. Even the shipping lines don’t know what is happening. The captains are not willing to take risks.”
Trade estimates suggest 1,500 to 2,000 containers of bananas valued at roughly ₹175-200 crore are stranded at various stages of transit.”There are containers on vessels which have been stranded on this side of the Hormuz Strait on the waters,” said Prakash Jain, owner of Nature One Fresh Produce. “Secondly, some containers are at different ports waiting to be unloaded. Then, there are containers in transit and in cold storages.”
The uncertainty is forcing exporters to improvise. Some consignments have already been diverted to alternate ports. “Some of my containers which were heading towards Syria have been unloaded in Sri Lanka,” said an exporter tracking shipments in the Arabian Sea. “The containers that were going to Iran would be mostly unloaded at Oman.”
Even when diversions are possible, exporters say finding alternative buyers is difficult.
“There are fixed buyers of Indian bananas,” said Danish Shah, managing partner at Sanghar Exports.