Pravash Pradhan
New Delhi, Feb 1: The Union Budget for 2022-23 presented on Tuesday has proposed a duty cut on certain inputs to give a boost to shrimp farming and export.
“Duty is being reduced on certain inputs required for shrimp aquaculture to promote its exports,” Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in her budget speech.
“The government announced a cut in the import duty from 30 per cent to 10 per cent on live black tiger shrimp; 30 per cent to 15 per cent on frozen krill and from 30 per cent to 15 per cent on Algal oil for manufacturing aquatic feed”, said Nitin Awasthi of InCred Equities.
“We expect shrimp seed and feed prices to remain the same which should benefit the farmers. We also expected continuation of interest subvention scheme, unfortunately that did not happen,” Aditya Dash, Vice Chairman, MPEDA & MD, Rams Assorted Cold Storage said in his post-budget reaction.
“Shrimp farming is the mainstay of entire marine export. We expected zero import duty on all inputs or a minimum charge. We also wanted the Finance Minister to announce uniform power tariff for shrimp farmers across the country as it (power) shares 10 to 12 per cent of the total cost,” said Dr Manoj Sharma, MD, Mayank Aquaculture in his initial comment on the budget.
The move is expected to lower the production cost of shrimp hatchery and feed.