West Asia war: Skyrocketing freight charges crush Namakkal egg exports
NAMAKKAL: A sharp increase in freight charges due to the ongoing West Asia conflict has significantly impacted Namakkal's poultry exports, with shipments dropping to a small fraction of their usual levels.
Industry sources said the disruption in shipping routes, reduced vessel availability and rising war risk costs have slowed exports sharply over the past few weeks, forcing exporters to scale down shipments and reconsider trade strategies.
Valsan Parameswaran, secretary of the All India Poultry Product Exporters Association, said exports have declined steeply, with barely three containers moving per day now, compared to around 20 containers per day earlier. "This itself shows the extent of the slowdown in the poultry export sector," he said, adding that the fall in volumes has directly affected overall business for exporters.
He explained that a consignment shipped towards the end of February, when tensions escalated, remained stranded at sea for several days, creating serious concerns among exporters about the safety of shipments. After continuous efforts by the association and the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), along with discussions with international shipping lines, the containers finally reached their destination markets last week. "That brought some relief, but exports are still happening only in very limited numbers," he said.
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