India’s shrimp exports to the US were 15.6% higher in 2018 to 248,127 tonne and accounted for 36% of the total shrimps imported into the nation, according to the latest data of US agency National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
US imported 695,723 tonne of shrimp in 2018, a 4.8 % higher than the previous year. Indonesia comes second with 132,344 tonne and is followed by Ecuador with 75,891 tonne.
India is the second-largest fish producer in the world after China and accounts for nearly 6% of the global fish production. In December,India exported 21,913-tonne shrimp to US, against 18,965 tonne in the year-ago period. Indian shrimp export growth is expected to slow down after four years of robust growth due to stiff competition from other suppliers, according to a report by credit rating agency ICRA.
The report says volume growth is likely to be 7-10% CAGR during CY2018-19 as against 17% CAGR between CY2013-17 and adds that stiff competition could result in a demand-supply mismatch and induce volatility in shrimp prices.
The impact of implementation of Seafood Import Monitoring Programme (SIMP) for shrimp exports into US is a key factor to be watched in Indian exports of shrimps to US. SIMP mandates stringent data requirements to trace the entire supply chain of seafood from the point-of-harvest to the point-of-entry into the US.
In 2018, US Department of Commerce had hiked the anti-dumping duty on Indian shrimp imports to 2.34 % from earlier 0.84 % in the preliminary results for the Administrative Review for 2016–2017.
The US government imposed an anti-dumping duty on frozen warm-water Indian shrimps in 2004, saying it was hurting US shrimp farmers. The Coalition of Gulf Shrimp Industries, an association of shrimp farmers, has been fighting aquaculture shrimp imports into US claiming that artificially low-priced imported shrimp from seven countries including India have suppressed and depressed domestic prices.
According to sources, Indian aquaculture output is estimated to touch a record 7 lakh tonne during the current fiscal and reach 1 MT by 2020. Seafood exports for the last fiscal touched $7.08 billion with 13,77,244 tonne exported, against 11,34,948 tonne and $5.77 billion in the year-ago period,according to state-run Marine Products Exports Development Authority data.
Source: financialexpress.com