The Hindu Business Line : China accounts for 70% aquaculture production; India second with 5 pc

INDIA has been ranked second in global aquaculture production after China. While China has garnered close to 70 per cent of the global aquaculture production in quantity and 50 per cent in value, India is a distant second with five per cent of global production and four per cent in value.

Indonesia and Vietnam occupy the third and fourth positions.

Interestingly, the global organisation Infofish has observed that of the top 10 aquaculture producers in the world, eight are from Asia.

Global harvest of fishery products totalled 146.30 million tonnes in 2003.

Despite a 6.6 per cent growth in the aquaculture sector, total production increased by only 0.35 per cent, which was attributed to the negative growth in capture fisheries.

In 2003, China was the leading supplier for farmed and wild-caught fishery products, accounting for 38 per cent of production, followed by the largest fishing nation of the world, Japan, Peru, the US and Chile.

The growth in the US shrimp market has been hampered by the anti-dumping law and punitive import duties imposed on six major suppliers. However, increased supplies from sources such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Bangladesh and Mexico have compensated the decline in supplies from India, China and Brazil. Consequently, imports in quantity terms have continued to grow, even as they have fallen in terms of value.

Consumption and import of fishery products, which are already on the rise in the US markets, are expected to continue.

Wal-Mart, the largest retail importer into the US with an annual billing of $1.2 billion, plans to increase its imports by 30 per cent from India in the near future, the report said.

Now, more value-added fishery products are processed for the traditional developed markets of Japan, the US and the European Union.

Despite the punitive tariffs and anti-dumping duties from the US, Asian fishery exports to the international markets have continued to grow, estimated at $20.48 billion in 2003 and constituting 31 per cent of the global trade. The value has further increased in 2004, notably with higher exports from China, Thailand and Vietnam.

The 10-year recession in Japan has continued to take its toll on fish imports and consumption. However, Russia is emerging as a big potential market.

The growth in GDP and real per capita income has created a new and vibrant demand for seafood in the Russian market.

This is fast transforming the country from a major exporter to an equally significant importer of fishery products. Russia's fishery exports have been stagnating during the recent past - from $1.52 billion in 2000 to $1.42 billion in 2002.

Meanwhile, confirming a rapid rise in consumption of fishery products, imports have risen by 183 per cent from $193 million to $547 million in 2003.