Nashik: Since the start of the grape export season last week, Nashik district has exported about 58 containers, with 760 MT of grapes, to various European countries in the past four days.
According to officials from the national agriculture department, of the 760 MT of grapes exported, 375 MT were sent to the Netherlands, 33 MT to Poland and 26 MT to Romania, among others.
Manik Patil, director of the Grape Exporters Association of India (GEAI), said the grape season was delayed this year by three to four weeks due to the pruning of the vines carried out in November.
Usually, vine pruning takes place in the district in October, but given the off-season rainfall in December for the past two years, grape growers have delayed their harvest. During the same period last year, Nashik district had exported about 1.29 lakh tons of grapes.
Out of 1.29 lakh tons of grapes exported in 2020-21 (Dec-Apr), 96,000 tons were exported to European countries like Netherlands, Germany, UK, etc., while the The remaining 33,000 tons were exported to non-European countries such as Russia, Malaysia, United Arab Emirates, etc.
The district had exported 1.16 lakh tons of grapes during the grape season in 2019-20.
Patil said they expect grape export to be the same as last year, but grape exporters are facing problems this season.
He said there has been a huge increase in transportation costs over the past three years. This year, shipping costs have doubled from US$4,000 to US$8,000 per container.
In addition, prices for packaging materials also increased by 30%.
Previously, a 5kg box cost Rs 46, which has now been increased to Rs 60 per box.