India signs agreement on black tiger shrimp promotion

 

 

The Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) has signed an agreement for promotion of black tiger shrimp including the co-branding agreement with SYSCO.

 

Earlier, SYSCO submitted a detailed proposal for promotion of Indian black tiger shrimp through its network by branding it as Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) PORTICO shrimps. The proposal contains three phases of brand promotion. The total estimated expenditure for the entire promotion programme is US$2.3 million, of which 50 percent will be borne by SYSCO.

 

MPEDA chairman Leena Nair informed that the export of marine products from India reached an all time high of Rs86.08 billion during the year 2008-09. During this period 602,835 tonnes of seafood products were exported, up 11.29 percent in terms of quantity and up 12.95 percent in rupee earning compared to the exports during the previous year.

 

Nair said that once the Indian black tiger brand is established, export of other products will also get a major boost because of better brand image of seafood exported from India.

 

Shrimp constitutes about 44 percent of the total exports from India with a value of US$839 million yet it has been showing a downward trend over the last few years - from its all time high of US$394 million in 2002-03 it came down to US$152 million in 2008-09.

 

Apart from declining production, the other major reason for this has been the lack of a brand image for the Indian tiger shrimp in the international market, especially in US.