Seafood exporters lose Rs 500 cr

Seafood exporters had urgently sought the government's intervention as the rupee upsurge had caused a loss of more than Rs 500 crore on existing stocks, said the head of an industry body.

Stating that as much as 50 lakh people had lost their livelihood, A J Tharakan, president, Seafood Exporters Association of India, said in a statement here that the rupee's appreciation has caused 100 times more damage than the 2004 tsunami.

The situation was aggravated when the banks hiked interest rates.

Shrimp exports from India, which account for almost a billion dollars, has been in a state of crisis for the past two years and hence requires some form of urgent relief from the government, Tharakan said.

The fishing and culture shrimp season had just started and exporters were not able to confirm orders because of poor realisation in rupee terms.

During the past three years, demand for Indian shrimp has been low due to oversupply of vulture shrimp from southeast Asian and Latin American countries.

And with the imposition of anti dumping duty in the US on Indian shrimp, the number of export orders to the US has fallen from 258 in 2001 to 80 this year, Tharakan said.