Seafood exports drop 4.5% in May

Marine exports declined by 4.5 % year-on-year in May to USD 146 million, on account of less demand from its main markets like Europe and Japan.

The exports stood at USD 153 million in May last fiscal, according to the figures released by the Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA).

Also read: India's seafood exports to Japan will be hit for 6-months

"European economy is still fragile and demand is yet to pick up," an MPEDA official said.

Besides, exporters are getting less number of orders from Japanese market due to the occurrence of earthquake and tsunami, he added.

Of the country's total marine exports, Europe accounts for 26%, followed by Japan 20% and the US 17%.

In the first two months of the current fiscal, seafood exports dropped 4.3% to USD 316 million compared to the same period last year.

India's marine exports include black tiger shrimp, fresh water prawn shrimp, frozen versatile fish, frozen skip jack and frozen squid and the consignments are mostly from Maharashtra, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.

In the 2010-11 fiscal, the country's outward shipment of seafood items grew by an impressive 25.5% to USD 2.6 billion in 2010-11 compared to the previous fiscal.