India’s seafood exports to China are not likely to face any adverse impact due to the coronavirus pandemic, which has mostly hit the country’s Wuhan province, the Marine Products Export Development Authority said here.

“Seafood exports to China have increased substantially in the current financial year as compared to the same period a year earlier. During April-December 2019, total seafood exports to China stood at 2,42,218 tonnes valued at $1,032 million as against 1,65,950 tonnes valued at $589 million in the same period last year,” said KS Srinivas, Chairman, Mpeda.

“The increase is 46 per cent in terms of quantity and 75 per cent in terms of value,” he noted.

Around 500 exporters ship seafood from India to China and the exporting community in general has not raised any issue about exports to that country on account of the coronavirus, he said.

However, a few of them have expressed concern about shipping to China as shrimp consumption might reduce. But there is a strong possibility of Chinese consumers switching to healthier seafood options, leaving behind other items such as reptiles of various kinds.

At the just-concluded India International Seafood Show (IISS) 2020 in Kochi, Srinivas had said the Coronavirus outbreak had not affected shrimp consumption in China. Wuhan, the epicentre of the disease, is a small province.

India is the second largest aquaculture producer in the world and the largest exporter of shrimp to the US. The country also exports a significant volume of shrimp to Europe and other markets in South East Asia.

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