March 6, 2009
India's Q3 seafood exports up despite fall in US shipments
Indian seafood exports have managed to record growth in volume and value for the first three quarters of the current fiscal despite lesser shipments to the US.
According to the Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA), other markets like China, the Middle East and South East Asia have helped Indian marine exports stay afloat in the recessionary market.
Exports to the US have fallen during April to December 2008-09 by 15 percent in volume and 10 percent in value.
High value items like shrimp are faced with falling demand, whereas other less costly species are attracting customers from outside the EU and the US.
According to figures by MPEDA for 2006-07, US accounts for 7 percent of the volume share and 16 percent of the value share of total exports, while EU accounts for 24 percent share in volume and 33 percent share in value of the total exports.
MPEDA figures also showed that India exported 438,768 tonnes of seafood valued at Rs6391.91 crore during April to December 2008 as against 413,768 tonnes valued at Rs5920.58 crore during April to December 2007.
The volume has increased by 6 percent and value by 7.9 percent, but the dollar realisation for the nine-month period has declined by 1.2 percent.
India exported 529,357 tonnes of seafood valued at Rs7,476.37 crore during fiscal 2007-08, as against 612,641 tonnes valued at Rs8,363.53 crore for 2006-07.
Shrimp, the major component in the seafood export basket, seems to be the worst hit, as shrimp exports account for more than 50 percent of the total exports in volume and value.
Export of shrimp has fallen by 12 percent in volume and 11 percent in value during April-December 2008-09.
Dollar realisation from exporting shrimp has recorded an 18 percent drop when compared with figures of the same period of last fiscal year.
Unit value realisation from shrimp exports has fallen by more than 7 percent during the period to touch US$6.87 per kilogramme from US$7.30 per kilogramme during April-December 2007.
The Seafood Exporters Association of India (SEAI) said that exporters were hoping for a good time with rupee weakening relative to dollar and catch of several species increasing, but are now concerned by the failure of several banks and the uncertainty in the global financial system.
US$1 = Rs51.64 (Mar 6)
