India’s banana growers are facing a harsh winter as chilling injury is impacting crops across Maharashtra and other major growing regions, yet Middle Eastern exports are providing some relief. FreshPlaza notes.
Abhijeet Patil of Solapur’s Trimurti Fruit Company says: “Chilling is across every banana-producing region now. Non-chilling fruit is available in very limited quantities, pushing farm-gate prices to USD 0.27 per kg in January.”
Patil notes that bananas affected by chilling still fetch USD 0.22 rupees per kg, higher than usual, as volumes dwindle from Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, and Madhya Pradesh. “Cold snaps have disrupted ripening, with a supply crunch expected for the non-chilling variety. This situation is likely to persist until late February. Buyers are having a difficult time sourcing scarce non-chilling fruit with lower volumes, and Andhra prices are also up, trailing Maharashtra by just a short margin,” he adds.
Exports are holding strong despite quality challenges, Patil emphasizes. “Importers in Iran, Iraq, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and Dubai are accepting non-chilling stock. They know it’s hard to get good material from India right now, so they’re taking it. Quality-focused markets like Europe and Russia are sidelined for now, but Middle East demand is keeping containers moving,” Patil shares.
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According to Patil, “Solapur has emerged as India’s banana export hub, moving 40,000 containers worth INR 4,000 crores in 2024-2025. However, the last quarter of 2025 was a tough one as banana prices crashed to USD 0.01 to 0.03 per kg, from September to December. Growers in the region reported the situation as worse than Covid levels.
Patil blames the price drop partly on sugar lobbies linked to sugarcane-short factories: “International demand for Indian bananas is booming, so farmers are switching from cane to bananas for better returns, though erratic cold, heat, and rains have hurt quality this year.”
Festive demand from the Mahashivratri festival next month is expected to lift prices further as the weather improves. In the coming weeks, Patil expects Middle East flows to continue, offering growers like him an outlet in tough times.
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