July 20, 2020: More than 9,000 tonnes of spices such as chilli, turmeric and cumin were exported to Bangladesh by rail route for the first time as the coronavirus lockdown disrupted road transport, an official said. In the past one month, over 5,000 tonnes turmeric, 4,300 tonnes chilli, and 100 tonnes cumin have been exported by rail to Bangladesh from the Andhra-Telangana belt, the official said.
Bangladesh is one of the leading export destinations for Indian spices and accounts for about 9 per cent in volume terms and 5 per cent in value terms of India’s total spice exports. During 2019-20, around 1,09,950 tonnes of spices valued at Rs 1,005 crore were exported to Bangladesh and the major items shipped are cumins, ginger, turmeric and chilli.
Earlier, over 95 per cent of India’s spice exports to Bangladesh were routed through the ports of Ghojadanga, Mundra, Hili, Mohadipur, Petrapole, Nhava Sheva or by road in small quantities. The official said that for the first time, exporters of turmeric and chilli who faced a tough time in transporting via road during lockdown, collaborated with South Central Railways for exporting spices by rail to Bangladesh.
“Over the past one month, around 5,250 tonne of turmeric, 4,300 tonne of chilli, and 100 tonne of cumin have been exported by rail from the Andhra-Telangana belt,” the official added. According to exporters, the rail logistics is faster, safer and easy to dispatch bulk quantities while reducing logistics cost by 60%.
Source: Deccan Herald
