The Hindu Business Line : EC team inspects fishing facilities at Vizag harbour

A TWO-MEMBER team from the European Commission (EC) visited the facilities at the fishing harbour here on Wednesday. The European Union (EU) sent the team here to examine the facilities in the country, especially Andhra Pradesh, which accounts for the bulk of shrimp exports.

The EC Principal Administrator (Food and Veterinary), Mr Luca Farina, and the food specialist, Mr Graham Woods, inspected the facilities right from harvesting to landing, seed manufacturing for cultured shrimp, transport of the brooders and processing facilities.

The two officials were accompanied by the Marine Product Exports Development Authority (MPEDA) Chairman, Mr Mohan Kumar, the Additional Director of Fisheries, Mr C. Ilaiah, the Visakhapatnam Port Trust Deputy Chairman, Mr M.S. Rao, and the Seafood Exporters' Association of India secretary, Mr N. Raghunatha Reddy.

``Our mission is to find out the quality of seafood, processing and other facilities and submit a report to the EU. We will also hold discussions with the senior officials of the Commerce Ministry on January 28 before submitting our report,'' Mr Graham Wood said.

The team left for Bhimavaram in West Godavari district in the evening to inspect the infrastructural facilities and the antibiotic residual testing laboratory set up there sometime ago. Another team has been deputed by the EC to Maharashtra and Kerala and Tamil Nadu on a fact-finding mission.

The value of seafood exported from India to the EU accounts for 20 per cent of the total exports last year. The export turnover this year is projected to be around Rs 6,000 crore as against last year's Rs 6,200 crore.

The decision of the two-member team is crucial as EU has become a major client for Indian exporters during past few years.

``Our shrimp has a good demand in EU along with consignments sent from Thailand, Vietnam and China,'' Mr Kishore Kumar, an exporter, said.

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