Andhra shrimp production drops 30%

Aqua shrimp production in Andhra Pradesh dropped by about 30 per cent in the year 2006 to 75,000 tonne, compared with 1.05 lakh tonne last year.

The current year's second crop harvesting is nearing completion and at present, a few hundred kilograms of tiger shrimp are coming to the market daily.

In 2005, aqua shrimp production (both tiger shrimp and scampi) in the state was about 1.05 lakh tonnes (both first and second 2nd crops) but this year it slipped to about 75,000 tonnes due to bad weather conditions, U K Viswanadha Raju, president, Seafood Exporters Association of India - AP Region, told Business standard.

Aqua farmers from Ongole and Nellore districts were the worst hit in the second crop season while farmers from East and West Godavari districts lost in the first crop season because of heavy rains and cyclones.

Raju said the seafood industry lost more than Rs 700 crore during this year due to the decline in production.

"Due to frequent rains, most of the aqua farmers in the sate went in for early harvest to avoid further losses. This is another reason for a fall in production. Farmers will get only small size shrimp if they harvest early, and small size shrimp would fetch as much price as the large size shrimp in the international market," he said.

However, farmers received higher prices for their second crop compared with the first crop. Seafood exporters were paid Rs 300 per kg for 30 count shrimp, Rs 240 for 40 count, Rs 210 for 50 count and Rs 180 for 60 count in the second crop season, where as it was only Rs 260, Rs 200, Rs 170 and Rs 140 respectively in the first crop season.

"Compared with last year, US shrimp importers have bought more quantities from us. Even EU countries have increased shrimp imports from India, as a result seafood exports have got better reliasation on shrimp exports compared with last year. On an average, exporters got $1 extra on each kg of shrimp this year compared with last year, and have passed on this extra benefit to farmers," he said.