Marine exports touch USD 5 bn mark on shrimp production rise

Marine Products exports from India rose 42 per cent to touch an all-time high of USD 5 billion during the fiscal ended March 31, 2014, helped by rise in Vannamei shrimp production and better infrastructure facilities, according to an official statement.
Exports stood at USD 3.51 billion during the previous financial year.
The exports crossed all previous records in quantity, rupee value and USD terms. In volume terms, exports rose to 9.83 lakh tonnes valued at Rs 30,213.26 crore and USD 5 billion, MPEDA Chairman Leena Nair, told reporters here.
Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) is targetting shipments worth around USD 6 billion for this fiscal, she said adding increased production of Vannamei shrimp, quality control measures and increase in infrastructure facilities for production of value added products will help to achieve the target.

Compared to the previous year, seafood exports recorded a growth of 5.98 per cent in quantity, 60.23 per cent in rupee and 42.6 per cent growth in USD earnings respectively. The unit value realisation also reached to record high from USD/Kg 3.78 during 2012-13 to USD/Kg 5.09 during 2013-14 and recorded growth of 34.55 per cent, she said.
The increased production of Vannamei shrimp has helped to achieve higher exports.

Frozen shrimp continued to be the major export value item accounting for a share of 64.12 per cent of the total USD earnings. Shrimp exports during the period increased by 31.85 per cent, 99.54 per cent and 78.06 per cent in quantity, rupee value and USD value respectively. There was all time high growth in unit value realisation of frozen shrimp at 35.05 per cent.

The overall export of shrimp during 2013-14 stood at 3.01 lakh tonnes worth USD 3.2 billion. The US is the largest market (95,927 tonnes) for frozen shrimps exports in quantity terms followed by European Union (73,487 tonnes), South East Asia (52,533 tonnes) and Japan (28,719 tonnes).
The contribution of cultured shrimp to the total shrimp export is 73.31 per cent in terms of USD. The export of cultured shrimp has shown tremendous growth of 36.71 per cent in quantity and 92.29 per cent in dollar terms.
The export of Vannamei has shown tremendous growth to 1,75,071 tonnes from 91,171 tonnes and USD 2 billion from 731.01 million compared to 2012-13. The export of Vannamei shrimp recorded a growth of 92.03 per cent in quantity and 172.81 per cent in dollar terms.