Weakening yen hits prawn exports

With the weakening of Japanese yen against the dollar, the sea food exporters in India are feeling the heat in shipment of their merchandise to the island nation.

"The prices are down by about 30 per cent since October for exports of Black Tiger shrimps to Japan due to weakening of yen against the dollar. Japanese have a taste for the Black Tiger shrimps," said Gorachand Mohanty, president, Sea Food Exporters Association of India (SEAI-Odisha region).

Black Tiger shrimp is a major export value item from Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal. In October, the price of Black Tiger shrimps was hovering around $17 dollar per kg and it has declined to about $13 per kg in December.

The exporters are losing money due to the devaluation of Japanese yen against the dollar, he added. The dollar has gone up nearly 15 per cent against yen this year. In the last 52-week period, the Japanese yen against the US dollar has been in the range of 100.76 - 121. 85.

"As the yen is weak, the consumption is very slow in the island nation," said V Padmanabham, President, SEAI (Andhra Pradesh region).

Prava Ranjan Patnaik, managing director, Falcon Marine exports Ltd, a leading exporter of the country, also expressed similar views. Japan is the fourth largest buyer of Indian marine products after South East Asia, USA and European Union in terms of US dollar realization.

South East Asia was the largest buyer of Indian marine products with a share of 26.38 per cent in terms of US dollar realisation in 2013-14. It is followed by USA (25.68 per cent), EU (20.24 per cent), Japan (8.21 per cent), other countries (8.20 per cent), China (5.85 per cent) and Middle East (5.45 per cent).