India’s seafood-export value reached an all-time high in its most-recent fiscal year, which ended 31 March, 2022.
The country exported seafood worth USD 7.74 billion (EUR 7.1 billion) in its 2021-2022 fiscal year, the highest in its history and rising 29.9 percent year-on-year, The New Indian Express reported. However, the total was still below the Indian Ministry of Commerce’s value target for the year of USD 7.81 billion (EUR 7.2 billion).
Andhra Pradesh contributed 43 percent of the country’s total sales value in the fiscal year, up from its 38 percent share in 2020-2021.
Seafood Exporters Association of India (SEAI) President Jagdish Fofandi told the Deccan Chronicle the record value was achieved despite the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, import-inspection hurdles for seafood entering China, and skyrocketing freight rates.
Over the past year, China banned 132 companies from India for varying periods of time after reportedly finding traces of COVID-19 on their shrimp cargoes. Fofandi said China’s strict measures against Indian goods could be a response to diplomatic tensions between the two countries following a border dispute.
“We met the [Indian] minister of commerce and the senior officials and they promised us to resolve the issue with China,’’ he said.
Fofandi said SEAI is also working with India’s government to lower shipping costs. Sending a container from India to the U.S. now costs between USD 15,000 and USD 18,000 (EUR 13,800 and EUR 16,600), up from USD 3,000 (EUR 2,770) before the pandemic.
“The freight agents formed into [a] cartel and [are] hiking at their will in regular intervals. We are taking up the issue with the government seeking its intervention,’’ Fofandi said, adding that both Indian exporters and farmers are negatively affected by the hike in freight rates.
The U.S. was the largest buyer of Indian shrimp, and shrimp was the largest contributor to India’s seafood export value in the 2021-2022 fiscal year, followed by China, the European Union, and Japan, according to Fofandi.
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