India's first quarter exports rose 21 percent off of increasing demand for frozen shrimp in the international market.
For the period from April to June 2017, India recorded 2.51 million metric tons of seafood exports valued at INR 90.66 billion (USD 1.39 billion, EUR 1.18 billion). During the same quarter last year, India's export totaled 2.01 million MT, valued at USD 1.17 billion (EUR 1 billion), the Marine Products Exports Development Authority (MPEDA) said in a statement.
MPEDA said while Indian seafood products experienced a healthy surge in demand from China during the period, the U.S.A and Southeast Asia retained their positions as the largest importers of India's seafood, followed by the European Union and Japan.
During the quarter, exports to the United States totaled 50,630 MT; Southeast Asian nations recorded 41,934 MT of Indian seafood exports; the European Union imported 14,893 MT; Japan took in 7,222 MT; the Middle East imported 3,753 MT; and China imported 2,804 MT. Exports to other countries totaled 6,285 MT, according to MPEDA.
Shrimp exports during the quarter increased by 20.87 percent over the same period in 2016; frozen fish increased by 21.75 percent, and frozen squid realized a 7.82 percent increase.
The export of vannamei shrimp was up to 92,341 metric tons, as compared to 82,193 metric tons exported during the same quarter last year. MPEDA said that Japan was the major market for black tiger shrimp, taking 49.12 percent of India’s production of that species in value terms, followed by Southeast Asia with 23.84 percent and the U.S. with 17.77 percent.
The port of Vishakhapatnam handled 43,315 tons, followed by Krishnapatnam with 19,917 MT. The port of Kochi handled 29,630 MT; Kolkata exported 21,433 MT; Tuticorin handled 10,986 MT and Chennai exported 11,300 tons, the authority said.
