Marine products to have zero export duty

The marine sector is now included in the zero duty list of the Export Promotion Capital Goods (EPCG) scheme. The latest foreign trade policy review has extended this benefit to this sector as capital goods import is very essential for the upgradation of the processing units in order to meet the quality standards set by the European Union (EU) and the US.

According to Anwar Hashim, president, Seafood Exporters Association of India (SEAI) the inclusion in the zero duty list is a welcome move and would be highly beneficial to the industry as requirement of imported capital goods is on a rise.

The sector has to export five times of the waived import duty within a period of eight years. He said that this condition would not be a big issue as marine products export has increased in recent years.

Recently EU had imposed strict quality checking of imported items. Thus, export to the region suffered a setback. EU had imposed testing of 20 per cent of the containers and compulsory catch certificates for fishing vessels. EU is the largest importer of Indian seafood items for the last three-four years. In order to cope up with the quality standards, imported testing equipment and machinery are a must now. So it’s a welcome move by the commerce ministry. Technology upgradation is the need of the hour and capital goods import is essential for this, he added.

He also said that the two per cent interest subvention to SME sector would also benefit the seafood export industry as more than 90 per cent of the export units will come under this category. Extension of DEPB scheme till June, 2011 is also a welcome move as far as seafood export sector is concerned.