Indian Seafood Exports in despair, predictions point at 10% low

Indian shrimp, cuttlefish and squids are facing acute supply crunch because of low catch.
The Business Standard reports that the seafood exports may fall to about 10% during the
current fiscal year.
Seafood exports from India during 2014-2015 had exceeded 1 million tonne with a value of 5.5
billion USD which exceeded its previous fiscal by 6.86%. International markets for seafood has
also fallen with global slowdown owing much to the reduced purchasing power of importing
countries. A new fiscal years demand is usually reflected in the second half of the year. Indian
seafood demands from around the world have been low even during the second half of the
fiscal year owing to currency devaluation in China, Russia, Brazil, Europe and Japan.
A plethora of factors has affected the sea-catch greatly. Vannamei shrimp is the main type of
shrimp on which Indian aquaculture of seafood depends on and this has dropped by at least
30% during past 8 weeks. Delayed monsoon only aggravated the problem by shifting the
movement of various common fishes like sardine and mackerel. This has impacted their
availability on Indian shores. The price for common fishes has increased by 50% comparative to
the last season. This has made it costlier to procure such fishes. Thus, the main buying season
of European Union is in uncertainty since their main buying season is between October and
December.
Another expert James Kottackal has opinioned that the 2004 tsunami has caused climatic
changes in both Bay of Bengal and Arabian sea. He has noted the major change in underwater
currents which have caused the fish usually found along the coastal belt to have not been
visiting those shallow waters. El-Nino has shifted climatic conditions of eastern coasts of the
country where the sea-catch is dropped by 50% and the exporters now depend on aquaculture
shrimp to meet their export demands. Production costs have thus risen in India and exporting
to western countries is not viable though the demand is more there.
The New Year is the festive season which hypes the demand for seafood from all around the
world. But this rush picks from August and subsides by October which has been dull for this
fiscal which has resulted in 20% lesser price for festive sales. Inquiries from importers are not
up to expectation.
Currently, USA is the largest market for Indian seafood industry (26.46% during 2014-15)
followed by South East Asia (25.71%) and EU (20.08%). Frozen shrimps are the major exports in
the category accounting for 34% in export quantity and over 67% in export value.