Bangladesh's shrimp exports totaled $507.3 million for the fiscal year ending in June, the Bangladesh Frozen Foods Exporter Association reported, down 1.5 percent from the previous fiscal year. Shrimp production accounted for 95 percent of the country's frozen food exports, which totaled $534 million.
The shrimp industry remains the second largest foreign currency earner for the country, close behind the garment industry.
Bangladesh's total export income for the year was $12.18 billion. Maksudur Rahman, president of the BFFEA, says that Bangladeshi shrimp exports, which go mainly to the EU, Japan and the United States, would continue to increase as product quality improves.
The Southeast Asian country, with 94 shrimp farms concentrated in the Southwestern coastal area, projects a shrimp export income of $1.5 billion by 2010. The Bangladesh shrimp industry employs roughly 20,000 people.
