COVID-19 Pandemic | India's seafood export drops by about 11% in FY21

Source: Reuters

India’s seafood exports have slumped by nearly 11% in volume and value in FY21 as coronavirus pandemic disrupted production and supply in key markets.

In dollar terms the export plummeted by 10.81% to $5.96 billion, a three-year low. It was in 2017-18, that the export touched a high of $ 7.08 billion. In rupee terms the fall is limited to 6.31% at Rs 43,717.26 crore.

The volume shrunk by 10.88% at 11,49,341 tonnes from a year ago with the flagship product frozen shrimp recording a 9.5% fall at 5,90,275 tonnes, as per the data released by the Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA).

“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 per cent of exported items in dollar terms and 46.45 per cent in quantity, which is 4.41 per cent and 2.48 per cent higher, respectively when compared to 2019-20,” said K S Srinivas, MPEDA chairman.

In 2019-20, India exported 12,89,651 tonnes of seafood worth Rs 46,662.85 crore (US$ 6.68 billion).

Ecuador has overtaken India as the top shrimp supplier in the world with an export of 677,787 tonnes in CY 2020. According to a report by Dr Yahira Piedrahita, ED of National Chamber of Aquaculture, Ecuador, the export volume has increased 18 times in the last 20 years..

USA (41.15%), China (15.77%) and the European Union (13.8%) were the leading importers, while frozen shrimp retained its position as the major export item followed by frozen fish.

Frozen shrimp contributed 51.36 % in quantity and 74.31 % of the total dollar earnings.

Though the industry expects the second half of the current year to be better for exports, the aquaculture shrimp production, which accounts for a major chunk of export, will be under pressure.``Except in Andhra Pradesh, the stocking of shrimps is down in the farms in the other states due to cash crunch and diseases. Besides, cyclone has washed away around 10,000 tonnes in West Bengal,’’ said Ravi Kumar Yellenki, immediate past president of Society of Aquaculture Professionals.

As a result, he expects the farmed shrimp production to remain around the same level as in last year. In the calendar year 2020, the production plunged by 19% to 650,000 from a year earlier. Andhra Pradesh accounts for around 70% of farm shrimp production in the country followed by West Bengal, Odisha and Gujarat.

`` The prospects look better in the second half of 2020 which could push up the shrimp prices. This may result in better production in Andhra Pradesh,’’ Yellenki said.

Srinivas said 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.

As per the MPEDA data, exports to China declined the most by 33.73 % and 31.68 % in quantity and dollar terms, respectively.

`` The closure of restaurants in USA was offset to a certain extent by the higher sales of shrimps in the supermarkets,’’ said Jagdish Fofandi, president of Seafood Exporters Association of India. Exports to USA grew by 0.48 % in rupee value but declined by 4.34 per cent and 4.35 per cent in quantity and dollar terms, respectively.

He said China market continues to remain uncertain with delay in shipments over Covid testing. `` The delay has caused a financial crunch in the exporting community, majority of whom fall in the small category. The way China market behaves is important for us,’’ Fofandi said.

On the production side, there were reduced fish landings due to a lower 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. As result the capture fisheries contribution fell by 56.03% in FY21.

According to Fofandi, the cyclones this year may also hit the catch from the seas especially on the western coast which has seen more storms in the last two years. ``I think we may take one more year to regain $7 billion export mark.’’