Seafood exports fall 11% in FY21

Srinivas stated in addition to the pandemic influence, a number of different components negatively impacted seafood exports throughout 2020-21.

Seafood exports from the nation declined in each quantity and worth phrases over the last fiscal totally on account of sluggish demand as a result of pandemic,Marine Merchandise Export Improvement Authority (MPEDA) stated on Wednesday.

Quantity of exports declined by 10.9% year-on-year throughout FY21, whereas worth of exports declined by 6.31% in rupee phrases and 10.81% in greenback phrases.
India exported 11.49 lakh tonne marine merchandise price Rs 43,717.26 crore ($5.96 billion) throughout FY21.In FY20, the cargo was 12.89 lakh tonne price Rs 46,662.85 crore ($6.68 billion). US, China and the European Union (EU) had been the main importers, whereas frozen shrimp retained its place as the foremost export merchandise adopted by frozen fish.

“The pandemic drastically affected seafood exports through the first half of the yr, however it revived properly within the final quarter of 2020-21. Additionally, the aquaculture sector carried out higher throughout this fiscal by contributing 67.99% of exported gadgets in greenback phrases and 46.45% in amount, which is 4.41% and a pair of.48% increased, respectively when in comparison with 2019-20,” stated KS Srinivas, chairman of MPEDA.

Frozen shrimp contributed 51.36% in amount and 74.31% of the full greenback earnings. US remained its largest importer (2,72,041 tonne), adopted by China (1,01,846 tonne).

Srinivas stated in addition to the pandemic influence, a number of different components negatively impacted seafood exports throughout 2020-21.

On the manufacturing facet, there have been diminished fish landings because of much less variety of fishing days, gradual logistic actions and market uncertainties.
Shortage of employees in fishing and processing crops, paucity of containers at seaports, elevated air freight fees and restricted flight availability affected exports, particularly of high-value chilled and dwell merchandise.

The scenario in abroad market was one other dampener.

In China, container scarcity, elevated freight fees, and Covid testing on seafood consignments prompted market uncertainties. In USA, shortage of containers made it tough for exporters to execute orders in time. Closure of HoReCa (lodge, restaurant and café) phase additionally affected the demand. In Japan and EU, Covid-induced lockdowns made the retail, restaurant, supermarkets and lodge consumption sluggish.