The Hindu Business Line : `Poor logistics costing seafood industry Rs 6,000 cr annually'

THE Indian seafood industry is annually losing Rs 6,000 crore in spoilage due to poor logistics support, according to Mr Elias Sait, Secretary General, Seafood Exporters' Association of India. "The industry is crying for proper logistics support,'' he said.

The annual fish production ( from ocean and culture) in the country is 5.2 million tonnes and worth Rs 30,000 crore. Of this, 9 per cent goes for exports, which are annually growing at 20 per cent, and the rest is consumed in the domestic market. However, 20 per cent of the total production gets spoiled due to improper handling, transportation and storage facilities, he told a national conference on `Building warehousing competitiveness: Next gen warehousing' organised by the CII Institute of Logistics.

According to Mr Sait, the industry needs logistics help in every sector, including inventory management, warehouse management and transportation.Take for instance, the situation from harvest (ocean or farm) to shelf. There is a shortage of facilities such as ice and chill rooms. Also, fishing jetties' infrastructure in the country is unhygienic. "Our infrastructure is not in line with international standards,'' he said.

Similarly, transportation of seafood is primitive at harvest and landing centres, and the products need to be taken mostly through "kutcha'' roads. The railway infrastructure is primitive, and the industry needs to depend only on roads. According to Mr Sait, the in-plant process for exports is good, and well controlled. However, when it comes to processing for the domestic consumption, the situation is bad with lack of infrastructure, including cold storage facilities.

On export front, Mr Sait said congestion in ports was a major issue, and there was shortage of refrigerated containers. The high freight cost was also making the Indian industry less competitive when compared to China and other Asian countries.

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