December 28, 2012

The US is now the largest importer of Indian seafood items, in rupee value terms, during the April-September period (H1) of the current financial year (FY13).

The US share in India's seafood export kitty for H1 stood at 24.4%, followed by the EU at 24.18%, according to the latest data released by the Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA).

However, Indian exports recorded a positive growth in both volume and rupee value terms only to the US. In fact, India suffered a serious setback in marine product exports in all its traditional markets in H1, except the US.

While exports to the US recorded a growth of 11.42% in volume and 9.33% in rupee value terms, shipments to the EU dipped 11.27% in volume, and Japan recorded a dip of 14.26%, according to the MPEDA data. Among the most serious drop was shipments to Japan, where exports dipped in all parameters - volume, rupee and dollar value.

Exports to China also recorded a setback as shipments dropped 33.09% drop in volume terms. Total exports to China during H1 FY13 stood at 21,488 tonnes against 32,116 tonnes during the same period last year.

On the quantity front, South East Asia became the biggest importer with 31% of the total volume of exports, followed by Europe with 20%, the US at 13% and Japan with 10%. This is mainly due to the bulk export of low-value items, such as mackerel and Red fin broom to the South East Asian market.