India exporters to buy only from registered shrimp farmers

Seafood exporters in Andhra Pradesh, which accounts for 70 percent of India's black tiger shrimp exports, will no longer buy the shrimps from farmers who are not registered with the Coastal Aquaculture Authority of India or the Andhra Pradesh fisheries department.

According to a recent notification of the Centre, exporters should mention the registration number on the export package of fresh, processed, frozen or chilled aqua cultured fish and fishery products or else the importers will not accept the goods, said V Padmanabham, president of the Seafood Exporters Association of India - Andhra Pradesh.

The move is aimed at meeting international standards and would help exporters avoid shrimp farms that use antibiotics.

Japan, the EU and the US do not accept shrimps with antibiotic residues, which have caused exporters to suffer great losses each year from rejected shrimp shipments worth crores, he said.

So far, 10,000 farmers in Andhra Pradesh have registered their farms.

India exported 126,000 tonnes of black tiger shrimps worth Rs3,780 crore in 2008-09.