August 17, 2011

India's July seafood exports fall 10%

The July marine exports of India have dropped by 10% this year to US$183 million due to weak demand from core markets such as Europe and Japan.

Marine exports stood at US$204 million in July last fiscal year, according to the figures released by the Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA).

"Growth is still fragile in Europe and demand is yet to pick up," an MPEDA official said.

Besides, exporters are getting fewer number of orders from Japanese market due to the occurrence of earthquake and tsunami there earlier this year, he added.

Of the country's total marine exports, Europe accounts for 26%, followed by Japan 13% and China over 10%.

During April-July this year, marine exports grew about 8% to US$643.81 million as compared to the same period last year.

The country's marine exports include black tiger shrimp, fresh water prawn shrimp, frozen versatile fish, frozen skipjack and frozen squid; and the consignments are mostly from Maharashtra, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.

In 2010-11, India's exports of seafood items grew by an impressive 25.5% to US$2.6 billion as compared to the previous fiscal's.