Exports of fish and fish preparations from Pakistan exceeded 36,000 metric tons (MT) during July-September, up 33 per cent from where they stood in a year-ago period.
Earnings from foreign sales also rose 34 per cent to USD 85 million. Earlier, between April and June, exports volumes had gone up 18 per cent to about 50,700 MT though earnings at $100 million showed a small increase of four per cent.
This rising trend in seafood exports is expected to continue and exporters hope that in FY14 the earnings may reach closer to USD 400 million from USD 317 million in FY13.
The resumption of shipments to E.U. countries, ever-deepening penetration into Chinese market and larger foreign sales of frozen fish and crustaceans, like shrimp and lobsters, indicate that seafood exports would keep growing in coming years. In FY13, about one-third of total seafood export earning, or USD 100 million in absolute terms, originated from China and Vietnam.
"Exports of salted, dried and smoked fish to China are growing by leaps and bounds," says a Karachi-based exporter.
