India’s seafood exports are expected to exceed a value of USD 6 billion (EUR 4.9 billion) for 2017-18, according to Ch Kishore Kumar, vice-chairman of the Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA). If realized, this total would represent an annual increase of USD 300 million (EUR 243.7 million).
The Times of India reported that Kilshore anticipates that shrimp will constitute more than 70 percent of the country’s seafood exports and more than two-thirds of the shrimp supply would come from Andhra Pradesh, which has emerged as the state with the largest acreage for the production of the crustaceans.
Kishore described the increased exports this financial year as good, though he attributed the depreciation of Indian rupee as a key reason behind the rising exports.
He said the demand for Indian shrimp, particularly of the white shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) variety, has been consistently on the rise because of increasing demand from Japan.
But he also added that the export of fresh fish for sashimi to the Japanese market had collapsed because of increased domestic demand for the raw materials.
Elias Sait, secretary general of the Seafood Exporters Association of India (SEAI), meanwhile, told a recent conference that India’s seafood exports would reach an even higher level of USD 6.5 billion (EUR 5.3 billion) this year.
The United States is the largest market for Indian seafood followed by Southeast Asian countries and the EU.
India maintained its position as the U.S. market’s No. 1 shrimp supplier in 2017, providing the country with 213,963 metric tons (MT) of product, up from 153,956 MT in the previous year. Indonesia was the second-largest supplier with 118,033 MT, followed by Thailand with 74,552 MT.
