Comments
After the slight blip in exports during the first couple of months of the current fiscal, seafood exports are poised to look up. “Overall the prices are ruling firm in global markets and Indian seafood exports will get into top gear only when the current trawling ban imposed by some west coast States is lifted in August,” said Mr Anwar Hashim, President of the Seafood Exporters Association of India (SEAI).
For the moment, the country's seafood exports are being sourced from the aquaculture farms and catch from the seas of East coast, while the catch from the West coast remains low on account of the trawling ban imposed during the monsoon months. The impact of the crippling tsunami and threat of nuclear leak affecting the sea catch had impacted the Japanese market for close to two-three months, Mr Hashim said.
But all that is behind the seafood industry today and the Japanese markets have not only stabilised but the demand has improved over last year.
Dumping duty impact
The demand for seafood, which had withered in the US during the period of depression, has picked up and the market has firmed up by the end of last year and the early part of the current year. The prices in the US markets have been good. Although the anti-dumping duty on shrimp exports from India have not been lifted, the current rates of duty are not prohibitive to have a huge impact on India's seafood exports, sources in the trade said.
In the case of Europe, the seafood export season is just about to begin.
It is from August that most of the landings of squid, cuttlefish and octopus occur along the West coast of India. And these form the mainstay of Indian seafood exports to Europe.
This year, the prices and demand for all these seafood products, including frozen fish, have been good in the European market, Mr Hashim said. Provided the weather remains favourable and the catch remains good this year, the erosion in seafood exports is evident in the early months of the current fiscal.
After slipping from 54,929 tonnes in April 2010 to 53,458 tonnes in April this year even as the export realisation slipped from Rs 798 crore to Rs 758 crore in the same period, the sector is expected to make a comeback.
Dubbing the fall as a minor blip in India's export front, the seafood exporters were confident of a good catch and strong export growth.
India's prominent markets, the US, Europe and Japan are in fine fettle and seafood exports should look up in the months to come, they said.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.