The Covid 19 pandemic has hit the seafood industry in the financial year 2020-21 by registering a decline of 10.88 per cent in terms of quantity, according to the data released by MPEDA.
India exported 11, 49, 341 MT of seafood worth US$5.96 Billion in 2020-21 compared to 12, 89,651 in 2019-20. USA and China are the major importers of Indian seafood with a market share of 41.15 % and 15.77 % respectively in terms of USD.
Frozen shrimp continued to be major export item followed by frozen fish.
‘The Covid pandemic continued to affect the seafood sector drastically during the first half of the year but I am very happy to say that the sector has revived very well in the last quarter and restricted the reduction in exports to around 10 % against the expected drop by 20 % during the financial year 2021,” said K S Srinivas, Chairman, MPEDA.
The seafood export during this year has declined by 6.31% in rupee terms, 10.81% in US dollar terms and 10.88% in quantity terms. The average unit value remained almost same compared to last year.
Export summary is given in the table.
“Coming to the markets, USA, China and EU are the top three markets followed by South East Asia, Japan, Middle East and other markets. USA with a market share of 41 percent imported 2.99 lakh MT of seafood worth 2.45 billion dollars and retained its first position. China with a market share of 15.7 percent imported 2.2 lakh metric tons of seafood worth 0.94 billion dollars became the second largest market for India while EU with a market share of 13.8 percent imported 1.52 lakh metric tons of seafood worth 0.82 billion dollars and became the third largest market. Coming to the products, frozen shrimp continued to be the major item of export in terms of quantity and value accounting for a share of 51.36 percent in quantity and 74.31 percent of the total US dollar earnings,” added Srinivas.
The aquaculture sector has contributed 67.99% of exported items in terms of USD and 46.45% in terms of quantity which is 4.41% and 2.48% more respectively when compared to 2019-20.
Capture fisheries contribution reduced from 56.03% to 53.55 % in terms of quantity and reduced from 36.42% to 32.01% in terms of USD value. The unit value of aquaculture products increased by marginal value 0.1 USD from 7.49 to 7.59 USD but the unit value of capture fisheries items reduced marginally from 3.37 to 3.10 USD.
It is pertinent to note that Tilapia and Ornamental fish has performed well with 55.8% and 66.6% increase respectively in quantity and 38.1% and 14.6% respectively increase in USD earnings. Tuna, though showed 14.6% increase in quantity, it showed a negative growth of 7.4% in USD earning. Scampi and crab exports reduced both in quantity and value.
Major Item wise exports details
Frozen shrimp continued to be the major item of export in terms of quantity and value, accounting for a share of 51.36 % in quantity and 74.31% of the total USD earnings. But the Unit value increase of frozen shrimp was almost inconspicuous at 0.04% from 7.496 to 7.499 and Shrimp exports during the period declined by 9.47% in USD value and 9.50% in quantity.
The overall export of shrimp during 2020-21 was to the tune of 5,90,275 MT worth USD 4,426.19 Million. USA is the largest importer (2,72,041 MT) of frozen shrimp followed by China (1,01,846 MT), European Union (70,133 MT), Japan (40,502 MT), South East Asia (38,389 MT), Middle East (29,108 MT) and Other Countries (38,257 MT).
The export of Vannamei shrimp has decreased from 5,12,204 MT to 4,92,271 MT in 2020-21. Out of the total Vannamei shrimp exports, in USD value terms, about 56.37 % was exported to USA followed by 15.13% to China, 7.83% to European Union, 5.76 % to South East Asia, 4.96 % to Japan, 3.59 % to Middle East and 6.36% to Other Countries. Japan in this year is the major market for Black Tiger shrimp with a share of 39.68% in terms of USD value followed by USA (26.03%), south East Asia (9.32%) and European Union (8.95%) in USD, Middle East (6.04%), China (3.76%) and Others (6.23%).
Frozen Fish retained the second position as the largest export item, accounting for a share of 16.37% in quantity and 6.75% in USD earnings. This year the export of Frozen fish has declined by 15.76% in Quantity and 21.67% in terms of USD value.
Other Items was the third largest category that shown a marginal positive growth of 0.12%, 0.26% by quantity and rupee value respectively however declined in USD terms by 5.02%. This category was predominantly (76% in quantity and 66.2% by value) constituted by Surimi and Surimi analogue (imitation) products.
Frozen squid has shown a decline of 30.19%, 9%, and 13% in terms of quantity, rupee value and USD earnings respectively. However Unit value of realization has been appreciably increased by 24.62% from 3.59 to 4.47.
Export of Frozen Cuttlefish has shown a negative growth of 16.38 % in quantity, 19.08% in rupee value and 22.50% in USD terms
Dried items are the only items which have shown an increase of 1.47%, 17% and 11.46% in all terms quantity, rupee value and USD earnings, respectively. In addition, unit value of dried items has been positively increased by 9.84% from 1.67 to 1.83
Export of Chilled items has shown a decline of 16.89 %, 24.35% and 27.90% in terms of quantity, rupee value and USD earnings respectively.
Live Items have shown a decline of 39.91%, 26.08% and 29.53% in terms of quantity, rupee and USD value respectively. However the unit value is increased by 17.26% from 6.37 to 7.47 USD this year. Export of Chilled and live items were negatively affected mainly due to the reduced air cargo connectivity resulted due to the Covid pandemic situation.
Market wise export Details
USA retained the title as the major importer of Indian seafood with a share of 41.15% in terms of USD. USA imported 2,91,948 MT of seafood in the current financial year. Export to USA has showed a growth of 0.48 % in rupee value however declined by 4.34% and 4.35% in quantity and USD value terms respectively. Frozen Shrimp continued to be the principle item exported to USA with a share of 95.63% in USD value. Exports of Vannamei shrimp to USA showed a growth of 6.75% in quantity, 13.16% in rupee value and 7.81% in USD terms. The Black Tiger Shrimp exports to USA decreased by 70.96%, 63.33% and 65.24% in terms of Quantity, rupee value and USD terms respectively.
China continued to be the second largest market destination for Indian Seafood with a share of 15.77% in USD earnings and 19% in quantity terms. China imported 2,18,343 MT of Seafood worth USD 939.17 million. The export to China has declined by 33.73%, 28.17% & 31.68% in quantity, rupee value and USD terms respectively. Frozen Shrimp is the major item of exports to China accounting a share of 46.64% in quantity and 61.87% in USD earnings.
European Union continued to be the third largest destination for Indian Seafood with a share of 13.80% in USD. Frozen Shrimp continued to be the major item of exports to EU accounting for a share of 45.91% in quantity and 58.38% in USD earnings out of the total exports to EU. Export of frozen shrimp to EU decreased by 5.27% and 6.48% in quantity and USD value.
South East Asia is the fourth largest market destination of Indian Marine products accounting for a share of 11.17% in USD terms. Overall exports to South East Asia declined by 2.56% in quantity 1.10% in rupee value and 5.73% in US $ earnings.
Japan is the fifth largest destination for Indian Seafood with a share of 6.92% in USD earnings and 7.55% in quantity terms. Exports to Japan have shown a positive growth of 10.52% in quantity terms and 3.85% in rupee value terms however, shown a decline of 2.42 % in USD terms. Frozen Shrimp continued to be the major item of exports to Japan accounting a share of 46.68% in quantity and 76.88% in USD earnings. Exports of Frozen shrimp to Japan increased by 3.95%, 1.54% in quantity, rupee value respectively however declined 3.94% in USD terms respectively.
Middle East is the sixth largest destination for Indian Seafood with a share of 4.22% in USD value terms. This market has shown a decline of 15.30%, 11.34%, 15.51% in quantity, rupee value and USD value respectively. Frozen Shrimp continued to be the major item of exports to Middle East accounting a share of 72.23% in USD earnings.
The exports to Other Countries showed a positive growth of 2.54% in terms of quantity terms however decreased by 1.02% by rupee terms and 5.44% in USD terms when compared to previous year. The other countries export basket contributed to a share of 6.98% in USD terms. Among other countries Canada (35.89%), Russia (20.20%), Bangladesh (8.19%), Tunisia (6.64%), Dominican Republic (3.68%) together contributes almost 75% share in USD terms.
