Production surge of Indian shrimp might result in a price fall

A production surge of Indian shrimp might result in a price fall, say trade sources. Output of farmed shrimp was about 500,000 tonnes during the first three quarters of 2017, compared with 400,000 tonnes in 2016. 

Apart from India, the major producers of farmed shrimp were China, Ecuador, Vietnam and Indonesia. 

America is the largest market for Indian seafood. The US administration recently raised anti-dumping duty on Indian shrimp to 2.34 per cent, from 0.84 per cent. And, on shipment from Vietnam from 4.8 per cent last year to 25.39 per cent. Indian shrimp also goes to Vietnam for value addition and re-export to the US; this would be hit. India, in fact, appears to have become the world's largest export of shrimp. “Production will be increasing as more and more areas are coming into (shrimp) farming in Odisha and West Bengal. However, access to capital remains a constraint; the seafood sector is capital-intensive,” said  Aditya Dash, managing director, Ram's Assorted Cold Storage, a leading Odisha-based exporter. He says India could be at the top spot for another 15 years.

In India, strong demand from North American and East Asian markets supported higher shrimp export at 420,500 tonnes, an increase of 33 per cent, making India the top world exporter. During the January-September 2017 period, average monthly export was 47,000 to 50,000 tonnes, mostly raw shell-on and peeled shrimp,” went a report from Globefish, an entity under the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. 

The destinations for India were America, Vietnam, the European Union, Japan and the UAE. Export increased to China and South Korea. The Globefish report says Indian export rose 42 per cent to the US market, compensating for supply declines there from Indonesia (three per cent less), Ecuador (1.4 per cent less), Thailand and Vietnam (seven per cent less). Import from China rose 39 per cent.