Indian seafood exports may fall short of the $6 billion target set by the Marine Products Exports Development Agency (MPEDA) this financial year, The Hindu reports.
MPEDA will compile figures for the whole financial year next month, but the performance recorded for the last ten months until January indicate the value of seafood exports will be below $5.5bn. The hope of hitting the $6bn mark this year was dashed by price fluctuations in the global market.
Although vannamei export volumes increased, prices fell substantially in the second half of last year.Also, the value and volume of frozen fish and dried items exports registered negative growth in the first ten months of India's financial year. Squid shipments fell by 23.35% in volumes and 28% in value.
Seafood exports last year topped a record $5bn and authorities and exporters had hoped that a new record would be set this financial year, but the total value of fish exports in ten months is $4.72bn.
This, however, is $500,0000 more year-on-year. In volumes, India exported 876,000 metric tons of seafood, up 4.9% over the previous year.
Frozen shrimp, which now makes up a third of seafood exports in terms of quantity and two-thirds in terms of value, continues to improve, as value has increased by 20% and volumes by 17%. Of frozen shrimp, more than 80% is vannamei, farmed extensively in coastal areas of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Odisha.
Indian vannamei is in high demand in Southeast Asia, the US and the EU because of the low production in countries such as Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia.
Source:undercurrentnews.com
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