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Kochi, Aug 17 An analysis of seafood export performance over the past five years shows that the predominance of shrimp in the country’s seafood export kitty is on a declining trend, while the share of frozen finfish is on a an upward move.

Cuttlefish exports also showed growth, while squid faced a decline.

Shrimp, which had a 65 per cent share in total seafood exports’ value during 2003-04, has gone down to 52 per cent in 2007-08, while the share of frozen finfish has gone up from 10 per cent to 17 per cent in the same time span.

Meanwhile, cuttlefish exports have risen from 6 per cent to 10 per cent, even as squid has been on a declining trend.

China has emerged as a major export destination of cheap frozen fish from India in the recent past.

With the entry of tuna, sashmi and other value-added products, there has also been a significant diversification in India’s seafood export basket.

The combined share of the four major seafood export items — shrimp, frozen finfish, cuttlefish and squid — which had a share of 88 per cent in 2003-04, has fallen to 84 per cent last year.

Value addition and diversification is always good for the seafood export industry because the vulnerability on a single item of export is reduced, sources in the trade said.

The shift in export basket is not confined to value alone, but extends to quantity of exports as well.

In quantity terms, shrimp, which had a share of 32 per cent in 2003-04, has come down to 25 per cent in 2007-08; finfish grew from 33 to 40 per cent.

The fall in quantum of shrimp exports is partly due to fluctuations and fall in shrimp aquaculture productions and variations in landings along the coasts of India.

While cuttlefish exports in quantity remained static, increase in unit value realisation perked up its total value realisation. The quantity of squid exports has fallen in the meanwhile.

The fall in value and quantity of shrimp exports was also due to a major shake-up in the export destinations. The US market, which had the biggest slice of India’s shrimp export market, fell from 41 per cent in 2003-04 to 19 per cent in 2007-08.

The imposition of anti-dumping duty on Indian shrimp exports into the US was the primary reason for this steep fall. This was partly compensated by a surge in shrimp exports to the EU from 16 to 37 per cent.

Shrimp exports to Japan market was also dull, falling from 27 to 22 per cent, mainly on account of a slump in the Japanese economy.

Indian shrimp exports to West Asia and East Asia have also gone up.

More Stories on : Aquaculture | Exports & Imports

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