India saw its seafood exports decline in both volume and value in the financial year ending 31 March, though the United States and China remained the country's two largest markets, The Economic Times reported 17 August, citing the Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA).
The South Asian nation exported nearly 1.29 million metric tons (MT) of seafood in the financial year, down 7.4 percent year-on-year. The export value it gained was USD 6.68 billion (EUR 5.64 billion), 0.74 percent lower than the financial year before.
MPEDA chairman K.S. Srinivas said a decline in demand from key markets due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which “led to cancelation of several orders, reduced and delayed payments, slowdown of cargo movements and difficulty in getting new orders,” was to blame. Fewer fishing days in the west coast of India also led to lower output, according to the Economic Times.
"We missed the USD 7 billion [EUR 5.9 billion] target, though not by a fair distance. However, exports are now likely to witness an uptick as lockdowns have been eased globally and there is an increased sale of value-added products in retail chains," Srinivas said.
MPEDA aims to boost the value of the country’s seafood exports to more than USD 13 billion (EUR 11 billion) by 2030, Srinivas said.
Frozen shrimp remain the linchpin of the country’s seafood export economy, with a total value of USD 4.9 billion (EUR 4 billion) in the year, up 6 percent year-on-year. The country shipped 652,253 MT of frozen shrimp, rising 6.2 percent year-on-year. Most of that total – nearly 285,904 MT ended up in the U.S.A. China received 145,710 MT from India; the European Union was third with 74,035 MT; Japan was fourth with 38,961 MT; the ASEAN bloc of Southeast Asiam nations was fifth, receiving 34,439 MT; and the Middle East was sixth with 32,645 MT.
Of the total, the export volume of vannamei was 512,189 MT, up 22.5 percent year-on-year. Vannamei sales to the U.S. accounted for 51.1 percent of India’s total value of shrimp sales, followed by China with 21.8 percent, the E.U. with 8.2 percent, the Southeast Asia nations with 4.7 percent, Japan with 4.5 percent, and the Middle East with 3.7 percent.
The U.S. was also the largest buyer of India’s black tiger shrimp in terms of value, accounting for 36.9 percent of the total export value. Japan and the E.U. accounted for 31.6 percent and 10.4 percent, respectively.
India’s exports of frozen fish in the financial year decreased by 26.5 percent year-on-year to USD 51.4 million (EUR 43.4 million). The export volume of frozen fish also dropped 34.1 percent year-on-year. Of the total, India exported 70,906 MT of frozen cuttlefish, up 17.8 percent year-on-year, worth USD 28.64 million (EUR 24.2 million), up 1.5 percent.
The U.S. was the largest buyer of seafood products from India in the financial year. It bought USD 2.56 billion (EUR 2.2 billion) worth of products, up 9.3 percent year-on-year, with frozen shrimp being the main item.
China ranked second in seafood volume received from India at 329,479 MT, which was worth USD 1.37 billion (EUR 1.2 billion), followed by the E.U., ASEAN, Japan, and the Middle East.
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