Trade patterns of Indian shrimp are drastically shifting in response to U.S. tariffs.
Shrimp Insights Founder and Lead Analyst Willem van der Pijl said that India saw a sharp decline in its shrimp exports in August 2025 caused by a "collapse in U.S. volumes” that came on due to tariffs. Indian products currently face 50 percent U.S. tariffs, though reports have indicated India is nearing a deal to slash that down to around 15 percent.
India’s total export volume in August, when U.S. President Donald Trump announced the steep tariff increase, totaled 56,712 metric tons (MT), marking a 9 percent drop from the same month the previous year, and the value of its total exports dropped 4 percent from August 2024, reaching USD 408 million (EUR 351.2 million).
Total export numbers from January to August, however, climbed 1 percent by volume compared to the same period in 2024 for India and 10 percent by value, with totals of 471,441 MT and USD 3.35 billion (EUR 2.89 billion), respectively.
The volume of exported vannamei, the most popular species for Indian exports, fell 15 percent year over year in August at 40,250 MT. Year to date, vannamei exports have, van der Pijl said, seen a 2 percent decline this year.
Black tiger shrimp exports have fared better, with 6,591 MT exported in August, representing a 76 percent year-over-year increase. Year to date, exports of the species have increased 5 percent year over year by volume, totaling 17,749 MT.
Van der Pijl called the steady improvement of black tiger shrimp exports “a glimpse of [the] strategic diversification” that many shrimp producers are aiming for now that their steadiest market, the U.S., has changed dramatically."
Value-added shrimp exports from India, meanwhile, which had been steadily increasing over 2025, dropped 10 percent below August 2024's numbers, with 5,403 MT exported. Still, van der Pijl said that “year to date, value-added exports are up 27 percent, confirming a structural shift among Indian processors toward higher-margin, cooked, breaded, and marinated products.”
Much of August's decline was attributable, according to van der Pijl, to a slowdown in the U.S. market, which imported only 16,495 MT of Indian shrimp during the month, marking a 43 percent year-over-year drop.
China made up for some of the difference, importing 12,190 MT of Indian shrimp, which was 33 percent higher than it had imported in August 2024.
“These numbers support the claims of several of India’s major processors that they are working hard to diversify their markets, with the E.U., China, and Canada being their first go-to markets,” van der Pijl said.
