Business for seafood exporters in Kerala sinks down amid Coronavirus outbreak

 The month of January usually sees marine exporters from Kerala rushing to send their consignments, especially those with big-sized crabs and shrimps, to China.
Crabs for sale in a market. (Photo| EPS)
Crabs for sale in a market. (Photo| EPS)

KOCHI: The month of January usually sees marine exporters from Kerala rushing to send their consignments, especially those with big-sized crabs and shrimps, to China. The marine products have a high demand as China celebrates Lunar New Year (Spring festival) on January 25.

However, this year, the exporters here, especially crab exporters in the state, are already feeling the pressure as most of the buyers have cancelled their orders due to the novel coronavirus outbreak there. "Usually, January is one of our peak seasons as far as the seafood export to China is concerned. However, this month, especially after the coronavirus outbreak, we have seen several orders getting cancelled. This shows that the virus outbreak is having a far-reaching impact and has almost frozen the seafood exports to China," said Vishakhan V, a seafood processing unit owner in Aroor.

He said China is one of the biggest markets which help the seafood exporters of Kerala sustain. Items like Vannamei shrimp usually have high demand during the Spring Festival. Another item in huge demand is live red leg crabs. They were usually sent live with their legs tied.

"The red leg crabs are usually cultivated in the water-logged coastal regions, spread in about 5,000 hectares in Alappuzha, Thrissur and Ernakulam where pokkali rice is cultivated. The crab is cultivated as an interim crop after the harvest period in the pokkali fields. Usually, buyers are ready to pay Rs 1,200 to Rs  1,400 for a big-sized crab. However, as they have stopped buying, the farmers are left with no other way than to sell it in the local market for Rs 200 to Rs 300. Not many local residents are interested in buying monster crabs in our market," Kerala Matsya Thozhilali Aikyavedi president Charles George told TNIE.

He said the marine export sector of Kerala is already hit by the US ban which came into being last year. "The US banned wild-caught shrimps from countries like India that do not comply with the fishing practices to protect sea turtles. That leaves the exporters here with fewer options like China, which is the biggest market followed by Singapore and Malaysia. However, now with the lack of demand in Chinese market adversely affecting the seafood exports, the Central and state governments need to come up with an action plan. Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) officers said they have not imposed any ban on exports to China. However, the buyers are not ready to take consignments," he said.

Meanwhile, the official spokesperson of Cochin Port said the exporters use to send consignments directly from Vallarpadam International Container Transhipment Terminal and the port has not started to assess post-coronavirus impact, to provide comparative figures.

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