A three-member team from the European Union is visiting Visakhapatnam tomorrow to inspect seafood processing plants here. The team yesterday visited some plants as well as aqua farms located at Bhimavaram. Of the 56 marine processing plants in the state, about 32 have got licences under the EU quality standards. | |
| Once in every two years, a team from the EU visits the state to verify the quality standards in these licenced processing plants. The EU would cancel the licences and even ban export of seafood if any of the firms are found not conforming to its quality standards, U Viswanatha Raju, president, Seafood Exporters Association of India (Andhra region), told Business Standard. |
| |
| Marine exports to the EU from Andhra Pradesh have witnessed a steep rise since the US government had imposed an anti-dumping duty on Indian seafood exports a couple of years ago. |
| |
| While the marine exports from the state to the region stood at 25-30 per cent of the total three years back, they touched about 60 per cent last fiscal. |
| |
| In rupee terms, the figure stood at Rs 746 crore in 2003-04, Rs 1,028 crore in 2004-05 and Rs 1,115 crore in 2005-06. During the first seven-months this year, seafood the exports have already hit Rs 820 crore. Considering the steady rise, Raju predicts that the exports this fiscal will touch 70 per cent of the total figure of the state. |
| |
| Keeping the market growth in mind, the seafood exporters in the state and Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) are attaching greater importance to the EU's inspection. |
| |
|
| |
