September 15, 2008

 

Lack of interest in CAA registration may force down Indian shrimp exports
 
 

India's shrimp exports may fall if farmers in top producing state of Andhra Pradesh fail to register with the Coastal Aquaculture Authority (CAA) before end of October.

 

Only 25 percent of the 17,145 shrimp farmers have applied for registration despite exporters announcing they would only purchase shrimps from certified producers starting November 1, according to Fisheries commissioner Arvind Kumar.

 

Kumar said the CAA has only issued about 2,700 certificates so far, with another 1,445 applications on pending.

 

Last year, Andhra Pradesh accounted for 50 percent of the Rs 3,000-crore shrimp exported. However, strict EU regulations have pushed the association of shrimp exporters and processors to buy only from farmers registered with the CAA. The EU is very concerned of the high percentage of "bacterial component" in Indian shrimp samples, especially those from Andhra Pradesh.

 

In Andhra Pradesh, eight of the 14 samples were rejected due to a high level of bacterial component in shrimp farms.

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