United States-based supermarket chain H Mart has inked an agreement with Ram's Assorted Cold Storage Limited (RACSL), a seafood processing and exports division of the Suryo Group of companies, based in Odisha, India.
Under the deal, RACSL will export black tiger, vannamei shrimp, pomfret, yellow croaker, and ribbon fish to H Mart, an Asian-themed grocery chain with 92 locations in the U.S. and Canada.
“This deal will help us to sell our exclusive products fished from the state's ecological wonder, Chilika Lake, as well as sourced seafood from individual fishermen, to the U.S.,” RACSL Managing Director Aditya Dash said.
RACSL officials met H Mart Founder and CEO Ilyeon Kwon and COO and President William Choi in New Jersey, earlier this year to iron out and confirm the agreement, Dash said. Terms of the deal are not being made public, Dash added.
RACSL has already shipped the first of its seafood to H Mart in North America. The company’s seafood being sent to H Mart is being processed at the company's plant based in Cuttack, a plant manager told SeafoodSource on a condition of anonymity.
Apart from processing plant, the Indian firm also has its own hatchery, feed distribution, and trading units. With sales exceeding INR 1.3 billion (USD 20.1 million, EUR 18 million) during the 2016-17 financial year, RACSL exports seafood products to China, European Union, Japan, and Vietnam, and now the U.S.
The national government estimates Indian seafood exports to the U.S. jumped 29.8 percent in U.S. dollar terms in the 2016-17 financial year to reach USD 5.7 billion (EUR 4.8 billion) in total value.
