The Hindu Business Line : Tsunami effect: Shrimp exports to US take a hit

WITH new reports on damages caused to the seabed, decrease in shrimp catch and major erosion in aquaculture production, the devastating impact of the tsunami is still being felt along the Indian coastline.

"There has been a 30 per cent fall in shrimp catch from the sea and almost 60 per cent fall in the second aquaculture crop, which is being currently harvested," Mr Abraham Tharakan, President of the Seafood Exporters Association of India (SEAI), said.

Even as a host of new and some exotic fish species have been reported along the coastline, there has been a sharp fall in catch in some of the traditional fish species such as shrimp.

The tsunami had also damaged several of the aquaculture farms along the East coast as well as some hatcheries. .

Most of the natural brooders for seeding and stocking the aquaculture farms were sourced from the rich coastal waters of Nagapatinam. But after the devastation wrought on the brooder stocks, there has been a shortage of good brooders.

The combination of all these factors has reduced India to a marginal player in the international shrimp market, the SEAI said.

The low pressure over the East coast and excessive rains have also reportedly taken their toll on the aquaculture farms.

Shrimp production from the country, both in terms of catch from the sea and aquaculture production have fallen, which has impacted the volume and value of shrimp exports. And Indian shrimp exports to the US have been hit the hardest.

Despite the sharp fall in volume of exports, there has been a surfeit of shrimps in the US markets and the prices have plunged. Price of Indian shrimp as well as those from other countries like Bangladesh and Indonesia have been consistently falling in the US markets during the last few months.

Indian exporters said that third country exports to the US have been on the rise, ever since the imposition of anti-dumping levies on countries such as India.

And the advent of new countries such as Saudi Arabia, which has converted the vast expanse of relatively temperate northern coast to aquaculture, have witnessed a major surge in production and availability in the US markets, driving prices further down. So much so that the ruling prices in the US markets are lower than those prevailing before the imposition of the anti-dumping duties, the exporters said.

The imposition of import duties and payment of bond upfront have deterred several traditional exporters from the US markets.

From over 30 major exporters to the US markets, the numbers have today dwindled to less than 15, sources in SEAI said. And fresh bonds will have to be paid year-after-year until September 2007, when the final duties are announced.

The advent of new technology has been driving down price of cultured shrimp and India has been losing market due to the US duty imposts, the exporters said.

They pointed out that the prices of shrimp in the US markets would continue to fall in spite of impost of duties on some countries, as long as technology innovations continue.

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