The Hindu Business Line : Seafood exports may dip 10 pc

SEAFOOD exports during the current fiscal are likely to fall by 10-15 per cent over the previous fiscal due to the anti-dumping duties imposed by the US, impact of tsunami and drop in prices of marine products, said Mr A. J. Tharakan, President of the Seafood Exporters Association of India (SEAI).

"This has been a disturbing year for the seafood sector," Mr Tharakan told Business Line here.

He said the anticipated drop in exports would be in the range of 10-15 per cent over the $1.33 billion worth of exports of last year.

The US decision in last December to slap a duty of 9.45 per cent on shrimp imports from India, and the uncertainty that prevailed in the interim period, resulted in exports to that country falling significantly.

Out of India's total seafood exports in 2003-04, the US accounted for 28 per cent in value terms and 13 per cent in volume terms. Mr Tharakan said exports to the US was likely to come down by at least 15 per cent this fiscal, in both value and volume terms.

The impact of the tsunami on the coastline had come as a double whammy for the seafood industry as the killer waves ravaged the marine ecosystem of the country's east and west coast, destroying shrimp resources, the SEAI President said.

"Now we see that there has been significant changes in ocean bottom right across the east and west coast. The seabed is now covered with slush," he said. This change in the seabed has severely impacted the shrimp resources since shrimp is a bottom resident fish.

"We are seeing astronomical drop in shrimp catches, " Mr Tharakan said, adding that if the damage had not been substantial, situation should have come back to normal by now. "It seems to be a major collateral damage to the ocean environment."

The Association is now planning to rope in institutions such as Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute to do an assessment of the tsunami impact.

Mr Tharakan said hatcheries were also affected since they could not procure enough mother shrimps to generate seed material. Since the Union Government did not permit imports of seeds, the aquaculture farms were `starving' now, he said. "Things are not looking good at all."

In addition to these factors, decline in marine product prices and depreciation of dollar too have hit the exporters this year. Since August 2004, prices fell by 15-20 per cent because of a glut in the market. The dollar has declined by nearly four per cent from 45.58 to the rupee since January 2004.

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