KENDRAPARA: Seafood exporters of Odisha hope to earn more after Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the reduction of customs duty on shrimp feed to promote exports in her Budget speech on Wednesday.
“The reduction of customs duty on shrimp feed will boost the income of the seafood exporters of the state. In 2021-22, seafood, mostly shrimps worth Rs 4,560 crore was exported from the state to many countries. We used to earn USD $7 USD by exporting a kg of shrimp. Owing to the reduction in customs duty on shrimp feed, our earnings will increase by 2 to 2.5 per cent,” said the managing director of Odisha Aqua Traders and Marine Exporters Pvt Ltd Manoranjan Kumar Patra.
Seafood exporters and shrimp farmers import around 50 per cent of shrimp feed and fish meal from other countries. Apart from aquaculture companies, shrimp farmers, fishermen, trawler owners and other workers will earn more due to the reduction in customs duty on key inputs for producing shrimp.
With a coastline of 480 km, Odisha has vast fishery resources but only a fraction of it has been exploited so far. Shrimp is one of the biggest export earners for the state. Commercial shrimp farming has become a vital part of the economy of the nine coastal districts of the state including Kendrapara and Jagatsinghpur.
Around 90 per cent of seafood exported from the state is shrimp. The reduction in customs duty on seafood feed will provide more jobs to people. On the other hand, the launch of a new scheme under PM Matsya Sampada Yojana with a targeted investment of Rs 6,000 crore has been welcomed by the Odisha Traditional Fish Workers’ Union (OTFWU). The sub-scheme would enable activities for fishermen, vendors and small and mid-sized enterprise (SME) vendors while also helping them expand markets.
‘The fisheries department should use the money to provide proper and hygienic fish markets and vending zones for the traditional fishermen, said Prasanna Behera the president of OTFWU.