Demand for frozen shrimp, squid spurs export of marine products

Shrimp exports increased by 20.87% in terms of quantity and 21.64% in dollar

Spurred by soaring demand for frozen shrimp and frozen squid in international markets, India's marine products industry exported 2,51,735 MT of seafood valued at Rs 9,066.06 crore ($1.42 billion) in April-June 2017.

The numbers saw a rise from the 2,01,223 MT and 1.17 billion US dollars respectively a year earlier.

USA and South East Asia retained their position as major importers of India's seafood, followed by the European Union (EU) and Japan, while the demand from China saw a healthy surge during the period, Marine Products Exports Development Authority (MPEDA) said in a release here.

Frozen shrimp continued to be the top export item of marine products basket, accounting for a share of 50.66 per cent in quantity and 74.90 per cent of the total earnings in dollar terms.

Shrimp exports increased by 20.87 per cent in terms of quantity and 21.64 per cent in dollar.

Frozen squid was the second largest export item, accounting for 7.82 per cent in quantity and 5.81 per cent in dollar earnings, registering a growth of 40.25 per cent in terms of dollar value.

Besides frozen shrimp and frozen squid, India's other major seafood product was frozen fish, which recorded a growth of 24.96 per cent, 17.55 per cent and 21.75 per cent in terms of quantity, rupee value and dollar earnings, respectively.

"Healthy harvests of shrimp, drastic reduction in the rejection rate by the EU countries, sustained measures to ensure quality and improved infrastructure facilities for production of value added products were chiefly responsible for India's surge in seafood exports," Chairman of MPEDA, A Jayathilak said.

"What is satisfying is that growth in exports was achieved in the face of continued uncertainties in the global seafood trade," he said.

USA was the largest import market for frozen shrimp (50,630 MT), followed by the South East Asia (41,934 MT), EU (14,893 MT), Japan (7,222 MT), the Middle East (3,753 MT), China (2,804 MT) and other countries (6,285 MT)," the release said.

The export of Vannamei shrimp, a major seafood delicacy, improved from 82,193 MT to 92,341 MT in April-June 2017, registering a growth of 12.35 per cent in quantity.

Japan was the major market for Black Tiger shrimp with a share of 49.12 per cent in value terms, followed by South East Asia (23.84 per cent) and USA (17.77 per cent), it said.

Frozen shrimp continued to be the principal export item to USA with a share of 95.83 per cent in dollar terms while Vannamei shrimp to that country showed an increase of 35.20 per cent in quantity and 36.44 per cent in dollar terms.

Vizag, which handled marine cargo of 43,315 tonnes worth Rs 2,481.03 crore, was the leading port, followed by Krishnapatnam (19,917 tonnes, Rs 1096.33 cr), Kochi (29,630 tonnes, Rs 1,027.39 cr), Kolkata (21,433 tonnes, Rs 993.74 cr), Tuticorin (10,986 tonnes, Rs 582.50 cr) and Chennai (11,300 tonnes, Rs 516. 09 cr).