After experiencing steady growth in recent years, seafood exports from India declined 10 percent in volume and 9 percent in value in the fiscal year 2015-2016, according to new statistics from the country’s Marine Products Exports Development Authority (MPEDA).
In the 12 months between 1 April 2015 to 31 March 2016, India exported 945,892 metric tons (MT) of seafood products with total value of USD 4.7 billion (EUR 4.2 billion), compared to 1,051,243 MT valued at USD 5.5 billion (EUR 4.9 billion) in the previous fiscal period. MPEDA attributed these results to the depreciation of the euro, a weaker economic condition in China and devaluation of the yen. However, the association added that another factor contributing to the decline was the price of shrimp, given that this product represents 66 percent of the total value of Indian seafood exports.
MPEDA reported that frozen shrimp export prices fell to an average of USD 8.28 (EUR 7.41) per kg in the last fiscal year, compared to USD 10.38 (EUR 9.29) in the previous 12 months.
The authority's Chairman, A Jayathilak, explained the revival of the shrimp aquaculture production in Thailand and Vietnam, which had overcome diseases challenges, resulted in better supply situation and eased the shrimp prices in the world market. He also explained that wild shrimp landings had declined by 10.5 percent to 348,296 MT.
Despite the overall decline in trade, India’s overseas sales of whiteleg shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) grew in volume by 16 percent year-on-year to 256,699 MT. In value terms, about 50 percent of the country’s total vannamei exports went to the United States, followed by 17.3 percent to the Southeast Asian countries. Some 15.8 went to the EU, and 2.2 percent went to China.
In order to boost its vannamei production, India’s government is in the process of setting up a breeding center in Kanyakumari, which will be operational in two years. Currently, much of the country’s broodstock are imported.
