Sudan fruit export halted due to coronavirus pandemic

02/04/2020 09:45 KHARTOUM

The export of Sudanese vegetables and fruits has stopped because of the significantly increased costs of transportation, inside the country and abroad.
The costs of transport in Sudan are soaring because of the continuing fuel crisis, and shipping by air and sea have has become extremely expensive as well due to the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, the Director General of the Sudanese Centre for the Sterilisation of Horticultural Export, Abdelrahman Abdelmajid told reporters in Khartoum on Wednesday.
Large amounts of vegetables and fruit, “abundantly produced in Sudan to cover the high demand in foreign markets”, are now accumulating in Suakin.
“There is only some movement still in meeting the demand for onions, especially to Jeddah, by ferries,” he said.

(File photo)

The export of Sudanese vegetables and fruits has stopped because of the significantly increased costs of transportation, inside the country and abroad.

The costs of transport in Sudan are soaring because of the continuing fuel crisis, and shipping by air and sea have has become extremely expensive as well due to the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, the Director General of the Sudanese Centre for the Sterilisation of Horticultural Export, Abdelrahman Abdelmajid told reporters in Khartoum on Wednesday.

Large amounts of vegetables and fruit, “abundantly produced in Sudan to cover the high demand in foreign markets”, are now accumulating in Suakin.

“There is only some movement still in meeting the demand for onions, especially to Jeddah, by ferries.”

Abdelmajid further explained that in addition to shortages of fuel which already led to high internal transport costs, there is a scarcity of lorries in the country.

“And now the prices for air and sea freight are soaring as well, due to the coronavirus pandemic. It has become uneconomical for the exporters of vegetables and fruits to continue,” he stated.

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