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The earthquake and tsunami that struck northern Japan could prove to be a boon to the Indian seafood industry.
After an initial hiccup immediately after the disaster, there has been a marked improvement in enquiries and demand for Indian seafood from Japanese importers, sources in the Seafood Exporters Association of India (SEAI) said. However, it is still early days and the sources were not willing to evaluate the long-term implications for the Indian industry.
There has been a marked improvement in demand for surumi from India, a delicacy in Japan. It is one of the mainstays of exporters such as Ulka Seafood, Hindustan Unilever, Silver Seafood and Naik Exports, SEAI sources said.
Fears that radioactive particles could have contaminated food supplies in Japan are expected to push up seafood imports.
There are reports of depleted stocks of seafood items on the shelves of Japanese stores which have also generated fresh demand for imports. Fall in marine production as well as lower seafood exports from Japan have also kindled price rise in South East Asia. Post the earthquake and the tsunami, there has been a 30 per cent increase in prices in the markets of Japan, Hong Kong and China, an exporter focusing on dried seafood said.
Black tiger shrimps
The demand and export of black tiger shrimps, the major item in India's seafood export basket to Japan, is also expected to look up this year. Black tiger shrimps are mainly harvested from aquaculture farms along the east coast. While reports of rejection of black tiger shrimp consignments on account of antibiotic residues have been coming down of late, the pace and tempo of black tiger shrimp exports would depend mainly on the quantity and quality of the harvest. Reports of disease outbreaks and crop loss from black tiger farms have also been relatively lower this year, SEAI sources added.
However, the import demand from Japan is not restricted to high value items such as black tiger shrimps alone this year but extends to low value seafoods too. Enquiries for frozen and chilled fish exports have been on the rise as well, sources in the trade said.
Japan was fifth in India's seafood exports after the European Union, the US, South East Asia and China last year. This was despite an increasing trend in all seafood exports to Japan, other than chilled items last year. Seafood exports to Japan registered a growth of 11 per cent in quantity and 36 per cent growth in dollar earnings last year. This year, seafood exports to Japan are expected to improve further, including chilled items, mainly due to lower domestic production and increased demand for value addition and re-exports. Japan accounted for 14 per cent of the country's $2.67 billion seafood exports in 2010-11.
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