October 22, 2009
Poor demand worries Indian seafood exporters
Despite the EU and US economies starting to shed the lag effects of global recession, the demand for seafood has yet to pick up, according to the Seafood Exporters Association of India (SEAI) president Anwar Hashim.
With Christmas and New Year approaching, October and November usually are busy months for Indian exporters with orders piling up, consignments getting ready and containers taking off to the EU and the US.
Hashim added that the demand is still confined to low-value items and enquiries for high-end value-added products are minimal.
Part of the reason for the subdued demand in the US is due the plummeting value of the dollar. As the value of the dollar has plunged 13 percent against the rupee in the recent past, the purchasing power of the US consumer has been blunted and demand has not perked up significantly.
Consequently, the US orders are still confined to low-value seafood products, sources in SEAI pointed out. The saving grace for the US market remains the successive slashing of the anti-dumping duties, which has enabled the Indian shrimp exporters to hold their own in the fiercely competitive US markets.
The situation in EU is slightly better. With the Euro strengthening against the dollar and most other global currencies, the purchasing power in the hands of the European consumer has gone up.
And demand is just beginning to pick up. But, given its relatively high costs, seafood would be one of the last items to get into the shopping list of the average Europeans even in the festival season, exporters warned. The orders and consignments for the festival season should have been executed by now, exporters said.
With demand for low-value seafood items continuing to remain firm, exports to China are likely to pick up this year. China became the second largest seafood export destination, accounting for 15 percent of the total value.
Europe, which had accounted for 33 percent of the value of seafood exports, is likely to remain the biggest export destination this year as well. US, which was relegated to the fourth position accounting for 10 percent of India's total marine exports last year, is not likely to make much headway this year as well.
