US-China trade war: Indian seafood exporters may gain from Trump's tariffs

In 2017, the US imported roughly $2.7 bn worth of Chinese seafood

With the United States (US) government imposing an additional 10 per cent tariff on massive amounts of Chinese imports, including imports of aquacultured seafood products, the levy is likely to bring up more opportunities for Indian seafood exporters.  

Exporters said that the imposition of additional levy will lead to increased demand from India due to better prices.

"The new levy will discourage exports of Chinese seafood to the US. India being the largest exporter of seafood to the US, it will open up more scope for supply of the perishable items and with good prices," said exporters.

The new tariffs, effective from September 24, would increase to 25 per cent on January 1, 2019.  

In 2017, the US imported roughly $2.7 billion worth of Chinese seafood of which roughly $1 billion was comprised of aquacultured seafood. The levy will be on aquacultured and wild-caught seafood products, as well as seafood products that are further processed in China.  

"As on date, India is the largest exporter of seafood to the US. If China's supply to supermarkets and food institutions of US drops, automatically, Indian products will be preferred," said Rajen Padhi, director general of Utkal Chamber of Commerce and Industry and a seafood consultant. 

The US' additional tariff on Chinese products is definitely encouraging news for India, he added. 

In the US, the Southern Shrimp Alliance has been consistently advocating for the imposition of additional tariffs through the President's Section 301 authority on imports of farmed seafood originating from China. 

"By recklessly tolerating the unprincipled use of antibiotics in Chinese aquaculture, seafood importers in this country have forced others to absorb the costs while they reap profits. President Trump's additional tariffs appropriately level the playing field for all seafood producers -- including foreign producers in countries outside of China -- that supply the US market that have been trying to do right by their customers," said John Williams, executive director of the Southern Shrimp Alliance.