Red Sea crisis disrupts food shipment, threatens food inflation
Jindal Stainless export targets hit as Red Sea crisis escalates That’s spooking the industry. Italian exporters fear kiwi and citrus fruits will spoil on the way, Chinese ginger is getting pricier and some African coffee cargoes were briefly delayed. Grain is being diverted from the Suez Canal and a livestock carrier bound for the Middle East has changed course.
While the impact is so far limited, it’s a reminder of how fragile food supply chains can be. If disruptions worsen, they could stall the slump in food-commodity costs that had started to filter through to cheaper grocery bills. Biden redesignating Houthis as ‘terrorists’ deepens Yemen’s humanitarian crisis? “Everyone is a loser here," said Nitin Agrawal, managing director of Euro Fruits, a major Indian grape exporter.
The company usually ships to Europe via the Red Sea, but now uses the longer route that’s more than quadrupling freight costs and doubling transit times. That means grape quality will suffer, and most European importers have agreed to higher prices of Indian grapes, which will make them more expensive for consumers, Agrawal said. The European Union generally relies on India for about a seventh of its table grapes, and more than 35% at the crop’s peak in March-April, according to European fresh produce association Freshfel.
US re-designates Houthi rebels as ‘terrorist’ Italian exporters, which sell about $4.4 billion of agricultural produce to Asia, are worried that going around Africa will hurt freshness and add to costs for fruit like apples, kiwi and citrus, said Massimiliano Giansanti, president of farm group Confagricoltura. It’s also a headache for farmers who could have to cut their prices to make up for higher shipping costs. “We have to
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