December 29, 2008

India's seafood prices set to drop sharply

India's seafood export industry is set to worsen as prices of most items have dropped sharply, said sources from the Seafood Exporters Association of India (SEAI).

An outlook by the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) said shrimp prices, which are already low because of the economic slowdown, would weaken further as import demand would be low.

EU has been a ray of hope for shrimp exporters as the US and Japanese markets turned gloomy in recent years, but latest estimates indicate the EU market is also facing problems importing seafood.

Shrimp import by the EU had dropped 10 percent to 337,600 tonnes in the first half of this year.

The report also said prices of yellow fin tuna and farmed salmon and tilapia remained more or less the same and catfish prices, which tumbled earlier this year, are recovering.

The report also said the low price regime is likely to continue till January 2009 when new fishing season in South West Atlantic begins.

The current crisis has already crippled the export prospects of India as the number of cancellations are on a rise.