With good demand in the overseas markets and changing consumption patterns in the Japanese market, exports of seafood from India are expected to continue growing despite recession.

Indian exporters and officials have noticed that the marine industry of India worth billions of dollars has not been much affected by the worldwide recession, as reported by Thaindian News. 

Marine Products Export Development Authority of India (MPEDA) has predicted that the exports of marine products will grow 10-15% in 2009-10. This is a positive indication as there is good demand, solid inquiries as well as good expectations of exporters. In 2007-08, the export of marine products from the country stood at $1.9 Billion.

However, there was initially a lot of pressure to survive in the economically challenging time, but the good quality together with various other factors helped the seafood industry of India to survive. MPEDA states that the sector is capable of exporting at a large scale even after the recession.

The President of the Seafood Exporters Association of India commented, “The situation is much better than we expected. The industry has handled the situation very well. Prices have come back to the normal level. We would be doing better than last year.”

The country’s exports grew significantly in terms of dollar despite the decline in aquaculture production and a slump in fish landings, mainly on account of unit value realization.

However, the economic turmoil affected the exports of seafood to Japan, which is a traditional export market for India. The consumption patterns in Japan have witnessed major shifts. For instance, lower grades were in high demand as compared to the expensive 16/20 grade of black tiger prawns. Currently, the demand has shifted to the affordable 26/30 grade of shrimps.

Under the Department of Homeland Security, the US Customs and Border Protection has decided to abolish the enhanced bonding requirement (EBR) on country’s import of shrimp, which is a good sign for the Indian seafood export. 

According to a Research Analyst at RNCOS, “Growing demand will continue to propel the exports of the Indian seafood to the overseas markets. Although exports to Japan have declined, the shifting market pattern is likely to fuel the demand for Indian seafood.”

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