INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Kochi: Faced with a supply crunch, Indian seafood exporters are unable to cash in on the rising shrimp prices in the global market
India is the top farmed shrimp supplier in the world at present.
The output has declined as farmers had cut production when the prices
crashed earlier during the fiscal year.
After achieving a record output of 6 lakh tonnes in FY18, the industry was expecting the production
to edge closer to 7 lakh tonnes this year when the prices slumped 20% as the US demand turned sluggish
His monthly shipment has come down to around 1000 tonnes from a level of 4000 tonnes.
Shortage has pushed up the shrimp prices in the farms
This has put pressure on the margins of exporters
Frozen shrimp accounts for about 70% of the total seafood export from the country which was worth over Rs 45000 crore last
of All India Shrimp Hatcheries Association.
India has become the top supplier of shrimps to the US
Large scale supply of shrimp from India, Indonesia and other countries to the US led to a plunge in prices
Several Indian exporters are sending shipments to the US after the European Union started tightening the quality norms
The rupee
depreciation is expected to benefit the seafood exports in the coming months
The current shipments have been contracted several months in advance and hence exporters may not gain much as the rupee was stronger then
go by next month and the industry is expecting the supply to improve as aquaculture is expanding in Odisha, West Bengal and Gujarat apart
from the dominant supplier Andhra Pradesh, according to the industry.
