Shares of domestic shrimp feed exporters, Apex Frozen Foods Ltd, Avanti Feeds Ltd, Coastal Corporation Ltd and Waterbase Ltd took a sharp beating in trade on Thursday, July 31, falling up to six percent as U.S. President Donald Trump imposed 25 percent tariffs and a penalty on Indian exports.
At 10.37 a.m., shares of Coastal Corporation were quoting Rs 35.75, down 2.6 percent. Avanti Feeds shares recovered some losses to trade at Rs 667.6, down 3.4 percent. Apex Frozen Foods was quoting Rs 238.5, lower by 1.2 percent.
In the March quarter of the previous fiscal year, Avanti Feeds generated 77 percent of its total revenue from the North American market, a slight decline from 80 percent in the corresponding quarter a year earlier.
Meanwhile, Apex Frozen Foods reported in its March quarter investor presentation that the U.S. accounted for 53 percent of its overall revenue.
India holds close to one-fifth of the global shrimp market, with production projected to remain steady at 1.2 million metric tonnes this fiscal year, as per Avanti Feeds' annual report. With nearly 48 percent of Indian shrimp exports headed to the U.S., the sector remains highly susceptible to policy changes in that region.
Currently, shrimp exports from India to the U.S. incur a combined duty of 17.7 percent, which includes a 5.7 percent countervailing duty and a 1.8 percent anti-dumping duty. This figure is now expected to increase to 25 percent.
Notably, US is the single biggest market taking in $2.4 billion out of $5.6 billion worth of shrimp that left Indian shores. Indian shrimp constitute 40 per cent of the US market. A big chunk of Indian shrimp that makes its way to the US gets processed in some Latin American nations.
There are around 1 lakh shrimp farms in India, most of which are located in Andhra Pradesh. India achieved record exports of seafood in terms of volume and value by shipping 17,35,286 tonnes of seafood worth Rs 63,969 crore ($8.09 billion) during 2022-23. Frozen shrimp remained the major export item in terms of quantity and value, and the US and China turned out to be major importers of Indian seafood.
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