December 4, 2009

More fish exports with lesser traders in India

According to reports, nearly 1,700 seafood processing and exporting units functioned five years ago; their numbers have fallen to around 500 currently. Even among the 500 registered units, only about 100 are active.

SEAI says that there are hardly any merchant exporters in the marine exports sector now, given the strict regulations and bonds that they have to execute.

Huge amounts are required for upgrading quality standards from the raw material stage to processing, packaging and exports for the industry to record consistent growth.

Processors and exporters without long-term commitment harmed the industry by sending sub-standard products, which often invited rejections and bad name for the country.

With regulations and quality controls imposed by importing countries rising, the number of rejections has gone up in recent years. For exports to destinations such as the US, imposition of anti-dumping duties on shrimp resulted in only players with deep pockets being able to stay in business.

The need to raise fresh capital for day-to-day operations, while such huge outstanding amounts remained due, forced most of the smaller players out of the once lucrative US market.

However, SEAI points out that there are several positive features to this consolidation in the seafood export industry, noting that with the enactment of the catch certification, another rung in the operational chain, procurement, will get into the verification and authentication regime.

According to SEAI, these factors have enabled the seafood industry to rise up the value chain as far as global quality and standards are concerned, and the active players left today have invested substantial capital and can be considered long-term players.