Zero export duty for marine products.

The marine products sector is now included in the zero duty list of the Export Promotion Capital Goods (EPCG) scheme. The latest foreign trade policy review has extended this benefit to this sector as capital goods import is very essential for the upgradation of the processing units in order to meet the quality standards set by the European Union (EU) and the US, according to a report in Business Standard from Kochi.

Anwar Hashim, president, Seafood Exporters Association of India (SEAI), said the inclusion in the zero duty list was a welcome move and would be highly beneficial to the industry as the requirement of imported capital goods was on the rise.

The sector has to export five times of the waived import duty within a period of eight years. He said that this condition would not be a big issue as marine products export had increased in recent years.

Recently, the EU had imposed strict quality checking of imported items. Thus, export to the region suffered a setback. The EU had imposed testing of 20 per cent of the containers and compulsory catch certificates for fishing vessels. The EU was the largest importer of Indian seafood items for the last three-four years. In order to cope with the quality standards, imported testing equipment and machinery were a must now. So it was a welcome move by the commerce ministry. Technology upgradation was the need of the hour and capital goods import was essential for this, he added.

The two per cent interest subvention to the SME sector would also benefit the seafood export industry as more than 90 per cent of the export units would come under this category. Extension of DEPB scheme till June 2011 was also a welcome move as far as the seafood export sector was concerned.

Source : fnbnews.com