India suffered a setback in seafood exports during the April-September period of the current financial year. Global economic recession, especially in the Euro zone, coupled with the slowdown in export of shrimp to Japan, are at fault, according to major Kochi-based exporters.
The Euorpean Union (EU) fell to the second spot after USA, after a gap of around four years, in the export table. New regulations and certification systems by markets like China also adversely affected exports during the period. Detection of ethoxyquin, an anti-oxidant used in shrimp feed, above the permitted level, had
stalled exports to Japan for weeks. This caused huge losses to exporters in Odisha and West Bengal.
India has sought intervention of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in resolving the ethoxyquin matter. Meanwhile, there has been a sharp reduction in prices of items, especially those of shrimp in the global markets; a nominal growth (0.47%) was recorded in export earnings in rupee value. This is thanks to the fall of the rupee against the dollar in the past six-seven months.
Exports in the first half of this year were 349,009 tons, valued at Rs 7.98 billion, equivalent to $1.481 billion. Compared to the corresponding period of last year, exports declined 6.9% in quantity and 16.6% in dollar earnings. Frozen shrimp continued to be the major export item, accounting for 55.4% of total dollar earnings. In volume terms, its export decreased one per cent.
