Indian shrimp exports to US increase 6.6 % to 31,676 tonne in August

Indian shrimp exports to the US increased 6.6% year-on-year in August at 31,676 tonne after recording a decline during May-July 2020 due to pandemic related constraints.

According to the latest data of US agency National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, total shrimp demand in United States for August is also on the higher side at 82,233 tonne as against 70,153 tonne in the year ago period.

India is the largest producer of farmed shrimps in the world and accounts for nearly 6% of the global fish production.

During 2019, India accounted for 2,82,584 tonne of shrimps from the total US import of 698,445 tonne.

During the initial days of the lockdown, the seafood sector was working at about 20-25% capacity with most of the laboratories closed.

Labour and vehicle movement was also constrained in most of the coastal states.

Seed stocking and seeding was also on the lower side with farmers concerned about a glut in the market without exports.

The Marine Products Export Development Authority has reported that in the initial period of lockdown, there was 30-40% reduced stocking of shrimps by farmers.
It has also led to cancellation of several orders, reduced and delayed payments, slowdown of cargo movements, difficulty in getting new orders and renewal of existing orders.

Export of frozen shrimps from India to all markets during 2019-20 was pegged at 6, 52,253 tonne, which fetched foreign exchange worth $4,889.12 million.

US, the largest market, is followed by China with 1, 45,710 tonne.

Frozen shrimp, which earned Rs 34,152.03 crore ($4,889.12 million), retained its position as the most significant item in the basket of seafood exports, accounting for a share of 50.58 % in quantity and 73.21 % of the total dollar earnings.

Shrimp exports during the period increased by 6.04 % in dollar value and 6.20 % in quantity.