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Value-added food: A view of shrimp catch.

J. Punnathara

Kochi, June 28

Recession in Europe has taken a toll on ‘luxury’ shrimp consumption during 2008, which could have serious implications for Indian seafood exports in one of its biggest export destinations.

The retail chain segment has reduced its orders significantly across Europe and shrimp stocks are said to be piling up as a result of consumers’ lessening purchasing power and reluctance to buy comparatively expensive products.

And demand is decreasing in all major shrimp import markets, a report by the Seafood Exporters Association of India (SEAI) has said.

Though the region as a whole witnessed reduced shrimp imports, it was more pronounced for expensive, value-added, processed and chilled products. There was also some amount of variance in shrimp imports among countries with countries such as the UK registering eight per cent decline while Germany recorded one per cent.

However, India was able to maintain the top position in the high-volume shell-on shrimp exports to the UK for 2008, although there was close to 33 per cent decline in quantity between 2006 and 2008. Similar was the fate of most seafood exporting countries to the UK and almost all of them faced similar reversals. Overall shrimp imports into the UK declined both in volume and value during last year.

With the anti-dumping duty controversy dogging Indian shrimp exports to the US, the export community had been giving additional attention to Europe. This paid rich dividends in France where India was the third largest shrimp exporter, overtaking Brazil to the spot. While Brazil’s shell-on shrimp exports to France fell close to a third between 2004 and 2008, Indian exports more than doubled. Indian shell-on shrimp exports to France rose to 8,800 tonnes, while cooked and peeled shrimp from India to France also rose to 1,300 tonnes in 2008.

India and Thailand encountered more difficulties in exporting to the US, which resulted in them increasing their market share in the French market, the SEAI report said. Thus in 2008, India increased its market share by 11 per cent while Thailand’s share increased by 19 per cent. Consequently, India became the second largest supplier to France in 2008 with 10 per cent market share of total imports, the report added. Ecuador was the biggest exporter to France accounting for 20 per cent of the country’s total shrimp imports.

Reacting to the new economic constraints, consumers in European countries have changed their habits and are reducing visits to restaurants and expenditure on expensive foods. And this trend is expected to continue to for some more time.

All the EU countries are predicting more difficult times and worsening economic situation in 2009.

Giving an indication of the difficulties up ahead, the report says that this year shrimp imports before Easter have not been encouraging. The period of Lent and Easter are celebrated across Europe and more so in Southern Europe with increased consumption of seafood, including shrimp.

The report ends with a caveat: “It appears that European consumers are not ready to give up festive food and that they are ready to pay higher prices occasionally on high quality products, such as wild caught or organic products.”

More Stories on : Aquaculture | Exports & Imports

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