ShareProspects for a sustainable cold chain in India
The establishment of a sustainable cold chain in India could save 5.75bn euros worth of fruit and vegetables wasted annually.
In a recent study by Birmingham Energy Institute (BEI), global demand for food is estimated to grow by 40% by 2030.
Trends show that India would only be able to produce 59% of its own food if the current rate of productivity growth and food wastage is maintained. India’s present cold-chain capacity is tiny compared to potential demand. Less than 4% of the country’s fresh produce is transported by cold chain, compared to over 90% in the UK.
The establishment of a sustainable cold chain in India could save 5.75bn euros worth of fruit and vegetables wasted annually.
A sustainable cold chain of refrigerated warehousing and transport could also benefit India’s position as the world’s third largest pharmaceutical producer. It is estimated that almost 20% of temperature sensitive healthcare products arrive damaged or degraded because of a broken cold chain, including 25% of vaccines.
The global refrigerated transport fleet is expected to double to 9.6m vehicles by 2025, but to meet full demand of emerging markets, in particular Asia, led by China and India, it may need to quadruple to more than 18m vehicles.
According to BEI, one sustainable solution to this problem would be to use the vast amounts of cold lost to the environment, especially during the re-gasification of liquefied natural gas. Liquid nitrogen, which can be used in the same way as liquid air, is widely available in India and the industry has 3,500 tonnes per day of spare production capacity. This would be enough, in principle, to cool some 17,000 refrigerated vehicles, twice the size of India’s actual refrigerated truck fleet, and equal to estimated immediate unmet demand.
BEI, The prospects for liquid air cold chains in India, http://goo.gl/ZX7pii
Trends show that India would only be able to produce 59% of its own food if the current rate of productivity growth and food wastage is maintained. India’s present cold-chain capacity is tiny compared to potential demand. Less than 4% of the country’s fresh produce is transported by cold chain, compared to over 90% in the UK.
The establishment of a sustainable cold chain in India could save 5.75bn euros worth of fruit and vegetables wasted annually.
A sustainable cold chain of refrigerated warehousing and transport could also benefit India’s position as the world’s third largest pharmaceutical producer. It is estimated that almost 20% of temperature sensitive healthcare products arrive damaged or degraded because of a broken cold chain, including 25% of vaccines.
The global refrigerated transport fleet is expected to double to 9.6m vehicles by 2025, but to meet full demand of emerging markets, in particular Asia, led by China and India, it may need to quadruple to more than 18m vehicles.
According to BEI, one sustainable solution to this problem would be to use the vast amounts of cold lost to the environment, especially during the re-gasification of liquefied natural gas. Liquid nitrogen, which can be used in the same way as liquid air, is widely available in India and the industry has 3,500 tonnes per day of spare production capacity. This would be enough, in principle, to cool some 17,000 refrigerated vehicles, twice the size of India’s actual refrigerated truck fleet, and equal to estimated immediate unmet demand.
BEI, The prospects for liquid air cold chains in India, http://goo.gl/ZX7pii