February 27, 2006                                                  

Strikes cost Pakistan's seafood industry US$18 million

Seafood exporters have missed almost US$18 million worth of orders in a month, as a halt to fishing activity by fishermen led to work stoppages in processing factories. 

Seafood catches at the Karachi Fish Harbour, which provides employment to at least 1.5 million people, has been falling drastically for more than a month as fishermen are on strike against rising prices of diesel.

Industry officials say major buyers, mainly from Asia countries, the US and Europe, were disappointed that Pakistani companies could not deliver. The strike has caused around 70-80 percent decline in monthly seafood exports from Pakistan said Faisal Iftikhar, vice chairman of the Pakistan Seafood Industry and Exporters Association.

Although the authorities had been informed of the situation, the association did not receive any intervention, which led more than half a dozen processing units to suspend operations.

Major buyers such as China, South Korea are now switching to other countries, said Akhlaq Hussain of Akhlaq Enterprises, a major shrimp exporter. The mass cancellation of future orders indicate the uncertainty in the overall situation of seafood exports of the country, said Hussain.

The country's seafood export has already been on the decline since it was banned by the European Union for five months last year on quality concerns. The fisherman's strike may turn out to be a much thornier problem than the EU ban since fishermen seemed determined not to compromise.

Fishermen have one single demand and that is they will not operate with the same diesel price, said Habibullah Khan Niazi of the Sindh Trawlers Owners Association. Frustrated after being snubbed by the government when they sought for help, the group finally decided to take matters into their own hands.

Niazi said they higher diesel rates were out of reach for the mostly poor fishermen who buy diesel in bulk. Since the government gives subsidies to exporters and processors, the same should be offered to fishermen, he said.