Marine export earnings drop 20%

Seafood shipments hit by the rising rupee, anti-dumping duty.

The rising rupee, the anti-dumping duty levied by the US on Indian shrimp, among other factors, saw the country's marine exports fall by 100,000 tonnes and export earnings drop by 20 per cent in the first nine months of the financial year, according to a memorandum submitted by the Seafood Exporters Association of India (SEAI).

The increasing global popularity of the Vanammae species of shrimp has also affected the Rs 60,000-crore domestic marine fishing industry, the association said in the memorandum submitted to the Prime Minister and Congress Party Chairman Sonia Gandhi.

Nearly 25,000 employees working in export processing units have been laid off over the last six months and more could follow, the memorandum pointed out.

According to estimates, around 3.5 crore families in eight coastal states are fully dependant on the fishing industry for their livelihood.

The crisis has worsened during the last 8 to 9 months because of lower catch as foreign vessels are freely allowed to fish in Indian seas, and fish imports from countries such as China and Vietnam, opposed especially in states like Kerala.

To bail out the sector from the current crisis, the memorandum has suggested some urgent measures. It has demanded the inclusion of fuel in the Duty Entitlement Pass Book Scheme (DEPB) as fuel accounts for around 40 per cent of the total cost of the industry.

It has called for the introduction of dual pricing mechanism for diesel by which the fishing sector can buy diesel at 50 per cent of the normal price, and raise DEPB rates by another 5 per cent for marine products from the current 8 per cent.

The memorandum also wanted service tax exemption on services rendered in India, proposed in the Foreign Trade Policy announced in April, 2007, and subsidising international freight rates.

The association also demanded interest subsidy on term loans, adequate compensation for the anti-dumping duty on shrimp levied by the US, bringing the Generalised System of Preference (GSP) tariff of the EEC down to 0 per cent, waiving the fees imposed by the Export Inspection Agency (EIA) and other bodies, and the introduction of farming Vanammae species of shrimp in India.