India’s fruit, vegetables exports to Qatar rise by 15% in two weeks, says reports

After four GCC countries put up an illegal blockade on Qatar, the country has been looking at several new avenues to ensure its food security. 

India has been at the forefront of the new strategy, with new shipping lines being opened and the first cargo from it being delivered the other day.

Now, Indian media are reporting that the country’s exports of fresh fruit and vegetables to Qatar have jumped by 15% within a two-week period because of an increase in demand, said Gulf Times. 

Since the start of the economic blockade on June 5, many cargo airplanes have delivered goods in large quantities to Qatar, according to reports.

A senior official of the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (Apeda), India, confirmed the development.

“India’s fruit and vegetables exports to Qatar have increased probably due to (a) halt in their exports from Doha’s neighbouring countries,” he said.

A report in Business Standard newspaper said a large quantity of India’s fruit and vegetable exports comes to Qatar via other countries, noting that Doha has now started importing from India directly.

Indeed, Lulu Hypermarket had said that they had imported 65 tonnes and fruits and vegetables to Qatar after the start of the blockade.

The Business Standard report also quoted a Pune-based fruit exporter, who pointed out that while fruit and vegetable exports to Qatar have increased in the past two weeks, the demand is yet to reach its limit. New orders are “expected to start pouring in from Qatar,” he said, according to Qatar Tribune.

The launch of the new India Qatar Express Service (IQX) is expected to further boost trade between India and Qatar. The first of the two vessels operating under the new service arrived at Doha’s Hamad Port recently.