APEDA Chairman stresses on upgradation of cold chain logistics to boost exports

The Dollar Business Bureau 

APEDA Chairman, D K Singh, while speaking at an Assocham event on cold chain development stressed that ‘Indian traders need to focus on logistics and other issues in their business plans which are relevant to global markets.’ 

He highlighted the feedback the department received from Korea on the shipment of mangoes, which was not good, as the shipment fell short in terms of quality, packaging and other issues. It should be recalled that South Korea agreed to import mangoes from India after conducting the stringent pest risk analysis (PRA). Indian mangoes are now popular in the US, Europe, the Far East, Middle East and also reaching and opening newer markets. India’s export of fresh mango stood at 36,329 tonnes in 2015-16. 

Advising traders and businesses in the packaging and cold chain industry, Singh said the need of the hour is to ‘think of a proper system which would collect the produce from the farmers, sort it, grade it in the next 5-6 hours and transport to a place having a pre-cooling facility. From there it goes to the pack house for a higher level of packaging and processing and then from that point it is taken to the port for export. So the entire chain has to be addressed and preferably by a chain of operators who have an interest in the entire value chain.’ 

He also said when we think of a business plan in logistics development we must also think of those aspects that are relevant in a particular market. The focus should be more on co-relation and forward linkages up to the country the product reaches. 

The cold chain industry is seen as an emerging and fast growing business sector in India. Considering the current issue of food shortage and food security in India, cold chain facilities will play an important role in the country. According to report by Emerson Climate Technologies India, every year fresh produce worth Rs 133 billion is wasted because of the country’s lack of adequate cold storage and transport facilities. However, this sector has witnessed a considerable growth in the last decade and is expected to have further improvement in growth rate in the years to come.