The Hindu Business Line : Seafood export prices fall on excess catch

"There have been good landings all over. This has created huge stocks in the market place. Prices would have fallen by 15-20 per cent," an official with the Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) said.

The country exports a wide range of seafood such as shrimp, prawn, squid, lobsters and cuttlefish. In 2003-04, the country exported $1.3 billion (around Rs 4,600 crore) worth of seafood to the US, Japan, Europe and other countries.

The official said the price fall was but natural given the kind of plentiful catch during August to October, the peak fishing season. "There is no other reason for this," he said.

Mr Anwar Hashim, Partner of Abab Fisheries, a seafood exporter in Kerala, said the catch would have gone up by at least 25 per cent in the period over the same months last year.

"Cuttlefish and squid have dropped by $1 per kg now," Mr Hashim said. Frozen squid traded at $2.60 a kg, down from $3.60 for the large category while the `3/6' smaller variety quoted $2.30 a kg as against $3.35 a kg.

Last year, prices had come down by 50-60 cents in this period on account of good harvest. Mr Hashim said prices decline during October to November since it is a peak season. But this year, the fall has been steeper compared with the previous years.

The fall in prices will not impact exporters since they buy raw fish at a lower rate. Also, export orders have swelled by about 25 per cent in this period (August-October), Mr Hashim said.

The MPEDA official also was optimistic that seafood export may record a growth this fiscal. "We have had more landings and the Japanese market is slowly picking up," he said.

During the last fiscal, seafood exports fell by 6.61 per cent in value terms and 12 per cent in volumes. The industry is now hopeful that the surging volumes would make up for the decrease in value in this fiscal.

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