With China banning Indian seafood import from June 1, exporters have completely stopped consignments from the last week of April, as it takes three-four weeks for these to reach China.
Exporters told Business Standard commerce ministry officials had asked them to ‘wait and watch’, but with no assurance coming by, they had stopped sending further consignments. “We are afraid that if our consignments reach after the deadline, they may be rejected. So, it is safe to stop exports until the issue is sorted,” an exporter from Gujarat said.
The ban has majorly hit the seafood sector in Gujarat, as 70 per cent of exports to China are from the state. The average annual export to China from Gujarat is 90,000 tonnes (11 per cent of total exports), valued at Rs 1,151 crore, mainly of low-value fish items. These items have very little domestic demand.
According to the Seafood Exporters Association of India, 700 exporters across the country send products to China, of which 90 exporters are from Gujarat. According to an exporter from Gujarat, this would affect not only exporters, but also workers.
Low-value fish items require more workers to process and make ready for export. In Gujarat, 200,000 people depend on this industry for their livelihood.
The export sector of the state directly employs around 20,000 people, a majority being women. India exported 845,000 tonnes of seafood items, valued at Rs 16,824 crore, in 2011-12.
Exporters alleged the Union government was not taking the issue seriously. There was no fruitful dialogue between the two countries, except sending an official letter to Beijing.
India was not included in the list of countries which had confirmed with China’s General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) about the inspection and quarantine certificate for export of aquatic products to China.
This was because of negligence from the Indian side, as China had published a notice on the implementation of the administrative measures of inspection, quarantine and supervision on entry and exit of aquatic product, a year before. They had published the list of approved countries in October, but India did not act even then. China will allow consignments from AQSIQ-approved countries only.
In a notification, AQSIQ had approved 27 countries, of which seven are from the Asian region. These are Vietnam, Thailand, Pakistan, Japan, Philippines, Myanmar and South Korea. Ten nations are from Europe, seven from the American continent besides Australia and New Zealand.
