Comments
Seeking to make deep inroads into European seafood markets, the Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) will hold a conference on the harmonisation of regulations for seafood among G-20 countries in July this year.
“A major objective of the conference is to make various stakeholders in India’s seafood industry aware of trade regulations and export prospects in the European countries, the third-largest importer of our marine products,” said MPEDA Chairman D V Swamy.
Further, MPEDA will hold a shrimp conference to bring together stakeholders the value chain from the G-20 countries this year.
Food festival participants
A ‘Fish Food Festival’ will also be organised in New Delhi, inviting Ambassadors from the top 20 markets of marine products, including G20 countries in the current year.
“We want to ramp up our presence in European markets by meeting the stringent international quality control protocols, offering product diversification through value addition and ensuring the competitiveness of India’s marine products,” Swamy said.
India has the most significant number of European Union (EU)-approved processing units adopting state-of-the-art technology in seafood processing, making the country an attractive market for machinery manufacturers, suppliers and certification bodies. The EU is sending raw materials to India to process marine products significantly.
To ensure India’s shrimp consignments are free from any pathogens, Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Aquaculture (RGCA), a research unit of MPEDA, has set up a central quarantine facility in Chennai to check the imported brood stock of L Vannamei shrimps. It is also setting up a Broodstock Multiplication Centre (BMC) of Tiger variety shrimp, developed from Andaman and Nicobar Islands, in Visakhapatnam.
Measures to boost exports
MPEDA has launched a system validating EU catch and ICCAT (The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas) certificates, besides opening many ELISA labs for pre-harvest testing to provide sustainable and quality seafood.
As part of its plans to boost European exports, MPEDA has decided to hold an ‘International Buyer-Seller Meet’ with particular emphasis on G20 countries during the February 15-17 India International Seafood Show (IISS) in Kolkata.
During 2021-22, India exported 13,69,264 tonnes of marine products worth $7.76 billion (₹57,586 crore), registering an all-time high export by value. Shrimp production crossed one million tonnes, accounting for around a 21 per cent share of the global shrimp trade.
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.