Frozen shrimp contributed 51.36% in quantity and 74.31% of the total dollar earnings. US remained its largest importer (2,72,041 tonne), followed by China (1,01,846 tonne).
Seafood exports from the nation declined in both volume and value terms during the last fiscal mostly on account of sluggish demand due to the pandemic,Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) said on Wednesday.
Volume of exports declined by 10.9% year-on-year during FY21, while value of exports declined by 6.31% in rupee terms and 10.81% in dollar terms.
“The pandemic drastically affected seafood exports during the first half of the year, but it revived well in the last quarter of 2020-21. Also, the aquaculture sector performed better during this fiscal by contributing 67.99% of exported items in dollar terms and 46.45% in quantity, which is 4.41% and 2.48% higher, respectively when compared to 2019-20,” said KS Srinivas, chairman of MPEDA.
Frozen shrimp contributed 51.36% in quantity and 74.31% of the total dollar earnings. US remained its largest importer (2,72,041 tonne), followed by China (1,01,846 tonne).
Srinivas said besides the pandemic impact, several other factors negatively impacted seafood exports during 2020-21.
On the production side, there were reduced fish landings due to less number of fishing days, slow logistic movements and market uncertainties.
Scarcity of workers in fishing and processing plants, paucity of containers at seaports, increased air freight charges and limited flight availability affected exports, especially of high-value chilled and live products.
The situation in overseas market was another dampener.
In China, container shortage, increased freight charges, and Covid testing on seafood consignments caused market uncertainties. In USA, scarcity of containers made it difficult for exporters to execute orders in time. Closure of HoReCa (hotel, restaurant and café) segment also affected the demand. In Japan and EU, Covid-induced lockdowns made the retail, restaurant, supermarkets and hotel consumption sluggish.
Source:financialexpress.com