India targets marine products exports worth $5.6 bn in 2016-17

The Dollar Business Bureau

India’s marine exports are estimated to grow at about 20% to 5.6 billion in 2016-17, owing to its growth in aquaculture diversification, improved production infrastructure and quality control and value addition. 

The upcoming biennial India International Seafood Show (IISS) on September 23-25 in Vishakhapatnam, therefore, will focus on "Safe and Sustainable Indian Aquaculture" and underscore the technological advances and sustainable practices applied in capture & culture fisheries in India, to ensure quality of seafood produced for both domestic and export market.

The industry witnessed a decline in its exports during the last fiscal, when the outbound shipments stood at 945,892 MT worth $4.7 billion.

The USA and South East Asia continue to be the two major importers of Indian seafood. Frozen shrimp remained the major export marine product last year, followed by frozen fish.

The MPEDA has been encouraging shrimp culture through cluster farming approach. Several small and marginal farmers have taken up coastal aquaculture, while adopting world-class marketing strategies including certification, traceability and eco-labelling to increase their presence in the international markets.

These farmers have also included themselves into aquasocieties, which helps them with credit, quality seeds, feeds and other inputs, thereby reducing diseases and improving product quality.

 “Aquaculture is a very significant area for marine exports as far as India is concerned and our efforts are geared towards greater technology inputs and product diversification in this area,” said Dr A Jayathilak, MPEDA Chairman.

“Our higher target for exports this year is in part due to increased production of globally in-demand seafood produce such as Whiteleg Shrimp and Black Tiger Shrimp, and diversification of aquaculture species particularly of Mangrove Crab and Tilapia,” he said.