Andhra seafood industry to implement 'traceability system'

With the Japanese seafood buyers reluctant to buy black tiger shrimp from the Andhra exporters, the Andhra Pradesh seafood industry has decided to implement a traceability system in black tiger shrimp exports, particularly for the Japanese market. The state seafood industry would follow the traceability system as suggested by the Japanese buyers.

It may be noted here that following an anti-dumping duty levied by the US on Indian shrimp exports, the Andhra Pradesh seafood exporters set their sights on the Japanese market sometime back.

Now with the Japanese buyers hesitating to buy the black tiger shrimp citing muddy smell in some consignments from Andhra Pradesh, the state's seafood exporters have decided to restore their exports to Japan by following the traceability system.

"Under the traceability system, if any Japanese buyer rejects the material citing the muddy smell, the exporter concerned should repay the total amount to the Japanese buyer. In turn, the material supplier (either the farmer or the middleman) should reimburse the amount to the local exporter," K V Gupta, executive secretary, Seai-AP region, told Business Standard.

"The black tiger shrimp exports from Andhra Pradesh to Japan have witnessed a sharp fall in the last 18-20 months due to the muddy smell in some shrimp consignments. This problem sprung up mainly due to the farmers in the West Godavari district. Close to 20-25 per cent of the state's black tiger shrimp production is being generated from this district only. To avoid this problem, all the seafood exporters agreed to implement the traceability system," Gupta said.

"To avoid rejections by the Japanese buyers, and to create awareness among the farmers, middlemen, shrimp hatchery operators and shrimp processing operators on the traceability system, the Marine Products Exports Development Authority (Mpeda) and Seafood Exporters Association of India (Seai) are jointly organising a meeting on December 2 at Bhimavaram," he added.

"We are going to implement a fool-proof mechanism to identify the rejected material suppliers. The exporters should henceforth buy the material from the suppliers who abide by the traceability system. We are confident that no farmer will dare to sell muddy smell material to the exporters once the traceability system comes into force. We are expecting good exports to Japan by implementing traceability system in the coming days," N S R Murty, managing director of Nekkanti Sea Foods Limited, told Business Standard. After the US and the European markets opened up, a majority of seafood exporters have been gradually neglecting the old Japanese market for the last five to six years.

Ten years ago, 80 per cent of India's shrimp was exported to Japan only. However, last fiscal, only 20 per cent of the country's marine products were exported to Japan.

While 64,905 tonnes of marine products worth Rs 1,820.69 crore were exported to Japan in 2001-02, only 54,916 tonnes of marine products worth Rs 1,539.76 crore were exported in 2002-03.

Japan imported 20 per cent of the country's total exports, ie, 50,000 tonnes worth Rs 1,163.69 crore of marine products last fiscal. According to the seafood exporters, the exports of marine products to Japan will be between Rs 800 crore and 900 crore this fiscal.