 "Rejection of Vannamei shrimps by EU worries Odisha exporters")
“Though the antibiotic has not been detected in the consignments shipped from Odisha, yet it is a matter of concern for the state exporters. The Andhra Pradesh government and the Coastal Aquaculture Authority should de-notify and ban the hatcheries using the antibiotics,” said Gorachand Mohanty, President, Seafood Exporters Association of India- Odisha region. Reports say that the use of banned antibiotics, Chloramphenicol and Nitrofuran has led to rejection of Vannamei shrimp containers from the neighbouring state. Sources said, about ten containers have been returned by the EU. Though there are no such complains about the shrimps cultured in the state, the exporters fear, the incident may have ripple effect on the sea food exports from the state as about 50 per cent of the raw material for shrimp farming in Odisha is procured from Andhra Pradesh. Particularly, seeds for Vannamei shrimp produced in the state are procured from the hatcheries based in the neighbouring state. As locally available Black Tiger shrimps are now a low value and high risk item, more and more farmers are shifting to Vannamei shrimp farming.
About 30,980 tonnes of shrimps and fishes valued at Rs 1,817 crores (freight on board) were exported from Odisha in the last financial year. In dollar terms, it was $ 300.89 million.
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The Vannamei shrimp production in the state has gone up to 2907 tonnes in 2013-14 from 436 tonnes in 2012-13. However, Vannamei shrimp production in Andhra Pradesh had surpassed 2.16 lakh tonnes in 2013-14 from about 1.33 lakh tonnes in the previous year.
Exporters complain that there is unregulated growth of aquaculture in Andhra Pradesh and hatcheries there are not following the guidelines.
It may be noted that EU is the second largest market (quantity-wise) for frozen shrimp exports from India after the United States. The export of Vannamei shrimps had grown by leaps and bounds in the past few years. Last year, 175,071 tonnes of Vannamei shrimps were exported, up from 91,171 tonnes in the previous year. The exports recorded a growth of 92.03 per cent in 2013-14 in quantity and 172.81 per cent in dolllar terms.
In value terms, 44.59 per cent of the total Vannamei shrimps are directed to USA followed by 17.07 per cent to EU, 16.54 per cent to South East Asian countries and 4.01 per to Japan. “It such incidents of consignment rejection continue, we will have an impact on the country’s seafood exports,” Mohanty added.