The Hindu Business Line : Govt to bar entry of imported seafood raw materials into domestic market

The Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Mr E.V.K.S. Elangovan, delivering the presidential address at the seafood export awards function organised in Kochi on Thursday by the Marine Products Export Development Authority. - Vipin Chandran

Kochi , Jan. 5

THE Union Government will not allow import of raw material for processing seafood to enter into the domestic market, thereby creating difficulty to fishermen in the country in selling their products, Mr E.V.K.S. Elangovan, Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, has said.

The decision to import raw materials for processing was taken in view of the shortage in the processing plants for job works and exports as well as to make India a seafood-processing hub, he said in his inaugural address at the MPEDA export award distribution ceremony here on Thursday.

Similarly apart form shrimp farming, attention was also focussed on diversification of aquaculture species of other commercially important varieties, he said.

The Minister exhorted exporters to focus on producing high quality products as the global demand for fish was rising. He said seafood exports during the first eight months of the current year was 2,87,984 tonnes valued at Rs 4,536.08 crore equivalent to $1038.37 million. Compared with the same period last year, this represents a fall of 3.47 per cent in quantity and in value, a slight increase of 1.45 per cent in rupee and 5.55 per cent in dollar terms.

To tap the unexploited resources, particularly tuna, special focus had been given to exploit Tuna fishery resources. With this objective, the Government recently introduced a scheme by which monofilament long line system for Tuna fishing at a reduced duty could be imported, he said.

Speaking on the occasion, the MPEDA Chairman, Mr G. Mohankumar, said the authority had drawn up a plan to raise exports to $4 billion by 2010 and $6 billion by 2015. MPEDA was also in the process of introducing a vision document for the benefit of the seafood industry and for this it had identified areas for the future growth of the industry. It was also working on technology upgradation scheme, he said.

Mr Dominic Presentation, State Minister for Fisheries, said traditional fishermen of the State should be considered while taking modernisation programmes in the seafood industry as they were facing several problems on account of various factors.

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