Russia bans Indian marine products

Russia has dealt a blow to Indian marine product exporters by banning imports from India. The ban has come into effect from the beginning of this month.

To add to the woes of these exporters, the European Union — the largest export market for Indian marine products — has also threatened to ban imports from India in the absence of catch certificates.

These two developments coupled with the US move to maintain the 0.76 per cent anti-dumping duty on shrimp imports from India have put under cloud the country’s target of exporting marine products worth Rs 10,000 crore this year.

The ban by Russia, alleged industry sources, happened due to gross negligence by the top brass of Marine Products Export Development Authority (Mpeda) and the commerce ministry. In order to enhance imports from India, a delegation from Russia had visited the country in December 2008 and insisted on signing a protocol for doing business with New Delhi. Indian exporters alleged that a weak follow-up action by MPEDA was the main reason the protocol agreement could not be signed.

Industry executives said this was a serious setback. Though the quantity of marine products India exported to Russia was small, the country could have become a big market for Indian seafood items if timely follow-up was done, they said.

This is borne out by the fact that exports of marine products to Russia grew 110 per cent in 2008-09. Total exports in 2007-08 were 4,500 tonnes, valued at Rs 35 crore. This went up to 9,400 tonnes, valued at Rs 115 crore, in 2008-09. According to leading exporters, the growth would have been in the range of 100-110 per cent this year too.

India has been losing market share in its traditional strongholds like the EU, the US and Japan for the last four-five years. The share of the EU (in dollar terms) came down to 32.6 per cent in 2008-2009 from 35 per cent in 2007-2008, while Japan’s share shrunk to 14.34 per cent from 16 per cent.

Also, exports to the US went down by 10.18 per cent. In contrast, exports to non-traditional markets showed a remarkable increase. Exports to South Asia registered a 39 per cent growth in volume and 33 per cent in value (dollar) terms. Exports to West Asia grew 5.5 per cent in quantity and 7.3 per cent in value terms.