Indian Seafood Exports in despair, predictions point at 10% low

1. Indian Seafood Exports in despair, predictions point at 10% low Indian shrimp, cuttlefish and squids are facing acute supply crunch because of low catch. The Business Standard reports that the seafood exports may fall to about 10% during the current fiscal year. Seafood exports from India during 2014-2015 had exceeded 1 million tonne with a value of 5.5 billion USD which exceeded its previous fiscal by 6.86%. International markets for seafood has also fallen with global slowdown owing much to the reduced purchasing power of importing countries. A new fiscal year’s demand is usually reflected in the second half of the year. Indian seafood demands from around the world have been low even during the second half of the fiscal year owing to currency devaluation in China, Russia, Brazil, Europe and Japan. A plethora of factors has affected the sea-catch greatly. Vannamei shrimp is the main type of shrimp on which Indian aquaculture of seafood depends on and this has dropped by at least 30% during past 8 weeks. Delayed monsoon only aggravated the problem by shifting the movement of various common fishes like sardine and mackerel. This has impacted their availability on Indian shores. The price for common fishes has increased by 50% comparative to the last season. This has made it costlier to procure such fishes. Thus, the main buying season of European Union is in uncertainty since their main buying season is between October and December. Another expert James Kottackal has opinioned that the 2004 tsunami has caused climatic changes in both Bay of Bengal and Arabian sea. He has noted the major change in underwater currents which have caused the fish usually found along the coastal belt to have not been visiting those shallow waters. El-Nino has shifted climatic conditions of eastern coasts of the country where the sea-catch is dropped by 50% and the exporters now depend on aquaculture shrimp to meet their export demands. Production costs have thus risen in India and exporting to western countries is not viable though the demand is more there. The New Year is the festive season which hypes the demand for seafood from all around the world. But this rush picks from August and subsides by October which has been dull for this fiscal which has resulted in 20% lesser price for festive sales. Inquiries from importers are not up to expectation. Currently, USA is the largest market for Indian seafood industry (26.46% during 2014-15) followed by South East Asia (25.71%) and EU (20.08%). Frozen shrimps are the major exports in the category accounting for 34% in export quantity and over 67% in export value.