Its the steaming love of the world for Indian Seafood

The love for the Indian seafood amongst the world population can be estimated by soaring demand for its delectable frozen shrimp and frozen squid in international markets, India’s mega bucks marine products industry exported 2,51,735 MT of seafood valued at Rs 9,066.06 crore (US$ 1.42 billion) in April-June 2017 as against 2,01,223 MT and 1.17 billion dollars, respectively a year earlier.

USA and South East Asia retained their position as the major importers of India’s seafood, followed by the European Union (EU) and Japan, while the demand from China saw a healthy surge during the period.

Frozen shrimp continued to be the top export item of marine products basket, accounting for a share of 50.66 per cent in quantity and 74.90 per cent of the total earnings in dollar terms. Shrimp exports increased by 20.87 per cent in terms of quantity and 21.64 per cent in dollar terms.

Frozen squid was the second largest export item, accounting for 7.82 per cent in quantity and 5.81 per cent in dollar earnings, registering a growth of 40.25 per cent in terms of dollar value.

Besides frozen shrimp and frozen squid, India’s other major seafood product was frozen fish, which recorded a growth of 24.96 per cent, 17.55 per cent and 21.75 per cent in terms of quantity, rupee value and dollar earnings, respectively.

 “Healthy harvests of shrimp, drastic reduction in the rejection rate by the EU countries, sustained measures to ensure quality and improved infrastructure facilities for the production of value-added products were chiefly responsible for India’s surge seafood exports,” said Dr A Jayathilak, Chairman, MPEDA. “What is satisfying is that growth in exports was achieved in the face of continued uncertainties in the global seafood trade.”

USA imported 54,344 MT of Indian seafood worth 499.28 million dollars, accounting for a share of 35.05 per cent in dollar terms, while export to that country registered a growth of 39.56 per cent, 33.66 per cent and 38.93 per cent in terms of quantity, the value in rupee and US dollars, respectively.

South-East Asia continued to be the second-largest destination of India’s marine products, with a share of 31.26 per cent in dollar terms, followed by the EU (14.70 per cent), Japan (6.68 per cent), the Middle East (3.47 per cent), China (3.06 per cent) and Other countries (5.79 per cent). Overall, exports to South East Asia increased by 50.37 per cent in quantity, 28.84 per cent in rupee value and 33.87 per cent in dollar earnings.

The EU continued to be the third-largest destination for Indian marine products with a share of 15.23 per cent in quantity. Frozen shrimp was the major item of exports, accounting for a share of 38.85 per cent in quantity and 53.17 per cent in dollar earnings out of the total exports to the EU.

Japan, the fourth largest destination for Indian seafood, accounted for 6.68 per cent in earnings and 7.26 per cent in quantity terms. Frozen shrimp continued to be the major item of exports to Japan with a share of 39.49 per cent in quantity and 73.32 per cent in US dollar value out of the total exports to that country.

The overall export of shrimp during the first quarter of the current fiscal was pegged at 1, 27,521 MT worth USD 1066.97 million. USA was the largest import market for frozen shrimp (50,630 MT), followed by South-East Asia (41,934 MT), EU (14,893 MT), Japan (7,222 MT), the Middle East (3,753 MT), China (2,804 MT) and other countries (6,285 MT).

The export of Vannamei shrimp, a major seafood delicacy, improved from 82,193 MT to 92,341 MT in April-June 2017, registering a growth of 12.35 per cent in quantity. In value terms, 51 per cent of total Vannamei shrimp was exported to USA, followed by 25.99 per cent to the South East Asian countries, 9.87 per cent to the EU, 4.26 per cent to Japan, 2.23 per cent to the Middle East, 1.58 per cent to China and 5.08 per cent to Other Countries.

Japan was the major market for Black Tiger shrimp with a share of 49.12 per cent in value terms, followed by South-East Asia (23.84 per cent) and the USA (17.77 per cent).

Frozen shrimp continued to be the principal export item to the USA with a share of 95.83 per cent in dollar terms while Vannamei shrimp to that country showed an increase of 35.20 per cent in quantity and 36.44 per cent in dollar terms.

As for exports to South East Asian markets, Vietnam was the biggest importer with a share of 84.45 per cent in dollar terms, followed by Thailand (7.33 per cent), Taiwan (3.13 per cent), Malaysia (2.01 per cent), Singapore (1.76 per cent) and South Korea (1.11 per cent). Vietnam alone imported 69,988 MT of Indian seafood, the quantity is much more than that of any other individual markets like the US, Japan or China.

Export of frozen cuttlefish showed an increase in quantity terms, rupee value and dollar terms by 5.07 per cent, 20.84 per cent and 25.51 per cent, respectively.

Indian ports handled a total marine cargo of 2,51,735 tons worth Rs 9066.06 crore (1424.46 million dollars) in the first quarter of FY 2017-18 as compared to 2,01,223 tons worth Rs 7699.61 crore (1166.59 million dollars) in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.

Vizag, which handled marine cargo of 43,315 tons worth Rs 2,481.03 crore, was the leading port, followed by Krishnapatnam (19,917 tons, Rs 1096.33 cr), Kochi (29,630 tons, Rs 1,027.39 cr), Kolkata (21,433 tons, Rs 993.74 cr), JNP (37,011 tons, Rs 971.77 cr), Pipavav (49,334 tons, Rs 831.83 cr), Tuticorin (10,986 tons, Rs 582.50 cr), and Chennai (11,300 tons, Rs 516.09 cr).