THOOTHUKUDI: The export of frozen shrimp accounts for a a major share of 40 per cent of the total volume of seafood exports and 66 percent of the overall revenue generated in the country, stated the annual report of Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) for the fiscal year 2023-24.
According to the report, India exported 17,81,602 metric tonnes (MT) of seafood, which fetched a revenue of `60,523.89 crore (USD 7.38 bn) in FY 2023-24. In comparison with the previous fiscal year (2022-23), the export has improved 2.67% in terms of quantity, but the revenue generation has dipped by 5.4%.
Of the seafood export products, frozen shrimps accounted for a lion's share with a quantity of 7,16,004 tonnes, accounting for 40.19% of the total quantum, and 66.12% of the total dollar earnings. The export has also witnessed an increase of 0.69% compared to the previous fiscal data, resulting in an earning of Rs 40,013.54 crore.
A further glance into the data revealed that USA has topped the chart of major importers of frozen shrimp with an import of 2,97,571 tonnes, followed by China (1,48,483 tonnes), EU (89,697 tonnes), southeast Asia (52,254 tonnes), Japan (35,906 tonnes) and Middle East (28,571 tonnes).
Other major export items, include frozen fish (second largest), which has fetched Rs 5509.69 crore to the country's exchequer, and fish and shrimp meal & feed (third largest), which resulted in an earning of Rs 3,684 crore. The fourth and fifth largest export are that of frozen squid (earning Rs 3061.46 crore) and surimi, surimi analogs (earning Rs 2414.43 crore), respectively.
The report also revealed that USA continues to be the largest importer of Indian seafood with a share of 34.53% in terms of USD value. The US had imported 7.46% more in terms of volume than that of the previous fiscal, followed by China (25.33% share), and Japan (6.06 % share), respectively.
"India's seafood exports touched an all-time high in volume, shipping 17.81 lakh tonne which has generated 7.38 billion despite several challenges in primary markets like USA, EU and UK," said DV Swamy, Chairman, MPEDA.