July 1, 2009

Despite its long coastline, diverse agro-climatic conditions and marine habitats, India's contribution to the global fish trade has been just around one percent in 2008, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization.

 

China is still the top seafood trader in the world, accounting for over 10 percent of the global export market and eight percent of the global fish imports. FAO said global fish imports exceeded US$100 billion during 2008, the highest so far.

 

India's export trade went down from 1.8 percent to 1.7 percent in 2007 and 2008 despite talks of liberalisation of the fish import regime for value addition and re-export from India. Imports continued to be virtually zero in 2008, the FAO noted.

 

About half the world's fish exports came from developing countries while almost 80 percent of the world import is targeted at the developed world.

 

The remaining portion of the global trade mainly consists of intra-developed world trade while the huge volume and value of annual fish exports undertaken by the developing world. It has emphasised the economic importance they have as a major source of foreign exchange for the poorer countries of the world. The FAO has estimated that production of fish and fish products recorded a nominal growth to 141.6 million tonnes in 2008. While capture fisheries remained stable at 90 million tonnes, aquaculture grew by 2.5 per cent to 51.6 million kg - accounting for 45 per cent of the global fish as food supply. Global per-capita fish consumption remained stable at 16.9 kg with almost equal contribution coming from capture fisheries and aquaculture.