Deliveries of bananas to Russia from India have multifold advantages, including an extension to their "shelf life", a Russian agriculture expert has said.
"You can rest assured that bananas are on the shelves. Russia and India have very developed, well-established trade relations and extensive experience in agricultural supplies," Oleg Knyazkov, who leads the Center for Industry Expertise at the Moscow-headquartered Russian Agricultural Bank noted.
Knyazkov pointed out that the biggest advantage that supplies of bananas from India have over Ecuador is the reduction in the delivery time to Russia.
"A shorter route will extend the shelf life of bananas, and also reduce costs, and therefore the markup. The quality of the products is definitely no worse: even a sophisticated buyer is unlikely to distinguish bananas from Ecuador from Indian Bananas, the largest banana plantation in the world," Knyazkov added.
Earlier this month, Rosselkhoznadzor, the Eurasian nation's Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Supervision, urged Ecuador's Agriculture Ministry to decertify five Ecuadorian banana export firms after banana shipments from these companies were found to be infected with a pesticide named humpback fly.
However, the reduction in banana supplies from Ecuador didn't impact Russia much as its long-time strategic partner chipped in, beginning exports of the fruit to Russia in January.
However, the reduction in banana supplies from Ecuador didn't impact Russia much as its long-time strategic partner chipped in, beginning exports of the fruit to Russia in January.