Marine exports up 6.6% in April-December

Marine exports increased 6.6 per cent in quantity during April-December 2010, crossing the $2-billion mark. Exports grew 18.9 per cent in rupee terms and 24.7 per cent in dollar terms compared to their realisation in the same period last year.

This is the first time that the marine exports have crossed $2-billion in the first nine months of the financial year. The country shipped 547,249 tonnes, valued at Rs 9,187.2 crore as against 513,373 tonnes valued at Rs 7,725.4 crore in the same period of the last financial year.

Major products
According to the latest data on exports, frozen shrimp continued to be the major export item accounting for 48.61 per cent of the total earnings. Shrimp exports during the period increased 12.54 per cent in quantity, 33.94 per cent and 40.72 per cent in rupee and dollar terms respectively.

Export of frozen shrimp to the US registered a whopping increase of 88.12 per cent in volume and 149.05 per cent in dollar terms. Shrimp exports to Japan also showed an increase of 23.55 per cent in volume and 42.74 per cent respectively. During the period, India exported 7,363 tonnes of Vannamei species of shrimp.

The commercial cultivation of Vannamei shirmp in India was started couple of years back and is picking up now. This variety of shrimp has a good demand in markets like the US and the EU.

Fish, the principal export item in quantity terms and the second largest item in value term, accounted for 36.01 per cent of the total exports. Dried items showed growth of 50.27 per cent in quantity but declined 14.99 per cent in rupee value compared to the same period last year.

Main markets
The European Union (EU) continued to be the largest market with a share of 26.14 per cent in realisation in dollar terms. However, there was a decline of 4.87 per cent in volume. The US regained the second place with a share of 17.43 per cent, followed by Japan 15.12 per cent, South-east Asia 15.07 per cent, China 14.09 per cent , West Asia 4.73 per cent and other Countries 7.44 per cent. Exports during 2010-11 are likely to cross $2.3 billion, achieving 15 per cent growth in comparison to the previous year.