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Last year, India was the largest exporter of shrimps to the US, a first. Shrimp exports to the US, which stood at 94,000 tonnes (about half India’s overall shrimp exports), were valued at $1 billion. India is now the eighth-largest exporter of food items to the US.
Speaking to Business Standard, AJ Tharakan, president of the Seafood Exporters Association of India, said Thailand, the previous largest shrimp exporter to the US, had recorded low production last year, owing to the outbreak of a disease called the Early Mortality Syndrome (EMS). Aquaculture production in Thailand fell about 50 per cent due to the outbreak of EMS.
Thakaran said globally, shrimp prices had increased substantially, adding further increase was unlikely. In India, raw material costs for shrimp exports had increased to Rs 600 a kg. “So, further rise in export prices might affect our business with the US. The consumer resistance is already strong in markets such as the US and Europe,” he said.
Thakaran said the premium quality of Indian shrimps attracted importers in the US market. During her recent visit to India, Margaret Hamburg, the US Food and Drug Commissioner, said US authorities were largely happy with the quality of seafood India shipped to that country.
In a discussion with Tharakan, US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officials accompanying Hamburg said through the years, the Indian seafood sector made various efforts to comply with US FDA import requirements. "Our seafood exports to the US are being treated fairly by the FDA, and we have no major issues on the inspection procedures followed by FDA for seafood imports," Thakaran said.
He, however, told the US FDA delegation when consignments were sampled for inspection, it sometimes took up to 60 days for the results to be known and containers to be released. This caused substantial financial stress for both the exporter, as well as the US importer concerned.
Between 2005 and 2010, exports to US had been hit by the imposition of anti-dumping duty. Imposition of countervailing duty (CVD) worsened matters. Thakaran said though CVD had been done away with and anti-dumping duty was low, he was concerned about CVD, as an appeal had been filed in this regard against the decision of US Department of Commerce.
