Flattening global demand has hit exports and lowered the prices of shrimp, forcing farmers to cut output. However, the Coastal Aquaculture Amendment Bill might help by removing constraints, allowing the farmers to improve profitability.

A glut in the world market along with economic problems have diminished the purchasing power of major buyers such as the US, Europe and China.

Indian shrimp production is set to decline by 15 -20 percent in the current fiscal year as a sharp fall in global prices and sluggish exports have discouraged aquaculture farmers from raising the output.

The anticipated plunge in output and slowdown in exports have happened at a time when the Indian seafood sector is gearing up for accelerated growth with both houses of Parliament passing the Coastal Aquaculture Authority (Amendment) Bill 2023, last month.

India, the second largest aquaculture shrimp producer after Ecuador, had an output of 9 lakh tones of shrimp in 2022. Frozen shrimp comprised nearly 70 percent of a record $ 8.09 billion worth of seafood exports from the country in FY23.

Aquaculture farmers are stocking less in their farms as the drop in prices in the backdrop of increasing production costs has affected their profitability. “The global prices of shrimp of big sizes are down by 25 to 30 percent while the rates of smaller sizes have fallen by 15 to 20 percent,’’ said V Balasubramanian, General Secretary of the Prawn Farmers Federation of India.

Only in Andhra Pradesh the farmers are active. “The situation is bad in other shrimp producing states such as Gujarat, Odisha, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal,’’ he said. Andhra Pradesh accounts for around 70 percent of the aquaculture shrimp production in the country.