The seafood business in Kerala has fallen on bad times owing to frequent power cuts and acute shortage of ice blocks.
The 25 per cent power cut imposed on processing units in the state has heavily affected the working of the seafood export houses in Aroor-Chandiroor of Alappuzha district, Fort Kochi, Munambam area of Ernakulam district and Neendakara in Kollam district.
This has led to a sharp dip in the prices of almost all varieties of seafood in the last 8-10 weeks. The price of squid, a popular item in the global market, has dropped to Rs 40-60 a kg from Rs 140-160 a few weeks ago. There is poor demand for erstwhile popular items such as Indian sardine and mackerel. In the last week, many fishing boats were forced to destroy catches due to low prices and demand.
The price fall has discouraged many country boats and motor boats from venturing into the sea as the returns would not even meet the costs.
The shortage of ice has also hit the prices of items such as mackerel and oil sardine, the so-called poor man’s fish, as their shelf life is shorter.
The average amount spent by each fishing boat to go out to sea is between Rs 1 lakh and Rs 1.5 lakh, thanks to the high diesel prices. However, in recent times the average return per boat is only about Rs 25,000.
While earlier one block of ice was sold at Rs 45, now the price has gone up to Rs 100-120. The country boat owners alleged that whatever ice is available is gobbled up by the large mechanised boats, which remain at sea for five to seven days. These boats, they allege, buy 400 to 600 blocks for one fishing trip.
Ice plant owners say they need 24 hours of continuous, “good quality” power to make ice blocks. With the 30-minute daily load-shedding and frequent unannounced shutdowns playing havoc, they are unable to meet the fishing industry’s demand.
The recent imposition of power surcharge has made ice-manufacturing non-economical, and many ice plants are now producing much below their capacities to avoid excess tariff.
Though there are 220 registered ice plants in Kerala, only a fraction of them operate due to the costly electricity.
It is ironical that while boat owners are selling their catches at the available market prices for lack of ice blocks, the export houses are not able to utilise the lower prices due to the power shortage.
Kerala accounts for nearly 20 per cent of the country’s total annual exports of Rs 7,000 crore and almost 50 per cent of Kerala’s share is usually attained in the August-October period.
But this year, the export sector has been in a fix due to the non availability of ice, delay in processing due to electricity cuts, the 25 per cent power cut for high-tension freezing plants and the additional charges (Rs 12.50 per unit instead of the average tariff of Rs 5.52) for power in the plants. High fuel prices are adding insult to injury.
