Piling inventories worry marine food exporters

Piling of inventories at the cold storages has added to the woes of marine food exporters already grappling with dip in export of products.

Industry experts say exports of marine products are down by 30 per cent in the April-August period compared to the same period last fiscal, resulting in accumulation of inventories at the cold storages.

"Piling up of products has increased dramatically at the cold storages. We have 700 tonnes of black tiger shrimp, a major export value item lying at the cold storage which is more than 50 per cent compared to the last year due to the slackening demand” , said Kamlesh Gupta, chairman cum managing director, West Coast Frozen Foods Pvt. Ltd, a Mumbai based exporter.

The financial cost of holding at the cold storages is huge as electricity bills and interest charges get added up day in and day out, he added.

The demand from Japan, European nations and United States of America (USA) for marine products has shrunk drastically in 2012-13. In 2011-12, India exported marine products worth Rs 2140 crore to Japan while exports to USA and European Union stood at Rs 2977 crore and Rs 3810 crore respectively.

The detection of ethoxyquin, (an antioxidant considered to be slightly toxic to fish), in the shrimps exported to Japan has also badly hit the exporters in the country.