A new breeding centre for tiger shrimp in Port Blair is expected to increase shrimp exports from the country by $1 billion.

“It is expected that within five years of establishment of the project, tiger shrimp aquaculture in India would increase by one lakh tonnes annually with an export value of $1 billion,” Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said after inaugurating the centre.

In the first three quarters of the current fiscal, India’s shrimp exports increased by 90 per cent to ₹14,364 crore compared with the same period a year ago due to withdrawal of certain penal import duties by the US and fall in exports from South-East Asian countries. The US market alone accounted for shrimp exports worth $1 billion. India has now become the largest exporter of shrimp to the US. “This is an area which has the potential of becoming a huge foreign exchange earner for our country,” Sharma said.

The Minister added that production of disease-free varieties of tiger prawns at the Port Blair centre will assure access to advanced markets which have much higher health standards. It will also catalyse the growth of ancillary industry in the entire value chain of sea food processing.

With the upgradation of the airport in Port Blair, there will be a surge in marine exports, Sharma said.

India ranks second in global aquaculture production, after China, producing 4.64 million tonnes annually of the world’s total production of 60 mt.

The Minister said the seafood industry was poised at a crucial juncture, and it needs greater value addition for providing remunerative prices to resource poor farmers.

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