Co-branding initiative taken up to promote value-added seafood products

MPEDA said it started dialogue with various leading retail chains across the major markets

Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) under the commerce ministry plans to promote its value-added seafood products through co-branding. MPEDA officials said the idea is to promote the brand equity of Indian marine products in Europe, the US and Japan, among others.

The authority said it is in talks with various retail chains across major markets. “We want to have at least 10 such-tie-ups with foreign supermarket chains over the next few months,” said N Ramesh, director (marketing) at MPEDA. The processors who meet the quality standards prescribed by MPEDA will be allowed to use the authority's logo, he added.

In the wake of growing competition and regulation from other seafood exporting countries, MPEDA felt there is a need to step up its promotional programmes in overseas markets and develop better rapport with the traders and officials in the importing countries, said Ramesh.

MPEDA had done a similar exercise in 2009 when it tied up with US-based Sysco Corporation Inc to promote Indian Black Tiger Shrimp in the US. It recently signed a similar agreement with Japan-based Aeon Super Market chain.

Leena Nair, chairman of MPEDA, said value-added products are gaining momentum. What used to contribute to five% of the total seafood exports three years ago, now contributes 17%, she noted. The target is to increase it to 50% over the next five years.

Thanks to the high return on investments and with more and more companies realising that demand for value-added products is picking up, there has been a notable growth in investments in the sector, Ramesh added. The industry is expected to increase the capacity by 50% over the next four to five years, with an investment of about Rs 3,000 crore, Ramesh noted.

Abraham J Tharakan, president of the Seafood Exporters Association of India, said the industry has already enhanced capacity to export value-added products. India currently exports seafood in raw material format to China and Thailand, where they are converted into products such as ready-to-eat and ready-to-cook forms.

Overall seafood export from India is expected to touch $4.3 billion by the end of the current financial year and $10 billion by 2020.