January 6, 2006

Bangladesh to up shrimp exports to US$1.5 billion

Bangladesh hopes to ramp up shrimp exports to over US$1.5 billion annually by 2010.

To achieve this aim, the government will improve infrastructure, said Fishery Ministry spokesman Subad Chandra Dali, adding that it is going to set up an international-standard laboratory for testing bacteria found in Bangladesh shrimps.

During the last fiscal year (Jul 2004-Jun 2005), the country earned about US$400 million from shrimp exports.

Also recently, a European experts team visited Bangladesh to inspect the infrastructure of shrimp culture and was satisfied with the facilities here, Dali revealed.

He added that shrimp exporters are setting up new machines to test the bacteria to avoid complaints from the importers.

European countries are major importers of Bangladesh shrimp and frozen foods.