The Odisha government today said the state has received proposals worth Rs 466 crore for setting up processing units at Seafood Park in Deras, which will process 90,860 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) sea food and generate over 7,000 jobs.
"The state government has received very encouraging response in terms of investments (Rs 466 crore) for the Seafood Park from companies across the country. Leveraging on the natural ecosystem, the project is expected generate 7,214 employment opportunities in the state," Odisha principal secretary, Industries, Sanjeev Chopra said in a release issued here.
On the basis of committed investments so far, the seafood park will process 90,860 MTPA of sea food, he said.
Land has already been allotted to 20 firms for setting up of processing units at the park, he added.
The seafood park is being developed by Odisha Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (IDCO) with an investment of Rs 134 crore, he said.
Companies including Falcon Marine Exports, Magnum Seafoods, Utkal Exports and Vizag-based Coastal Corporation, Falcon Marine Exports have already committed investments for setting up units at the seafood park, Chopra said.
Spread over 152 acres of land, the project has been approved under the Mega Food park scheme of the Food Processing ministry and will comprise 41 processing units.
The project will have infrastructure and access to common facilities like devices for cold storage, pre-processing and post-processing facilities, ice plant, packaging, polythene unit and a research and development facility.
Meanwhile, Odisha government has set up a target of reaching Rs 20,000 crore seafood exports annually in the next five years from the present level of Rs 2,500 crore.
India exported 11,34,948 tonne of seafood worth USD 5.78 billion in 2016-17 against 9,45,892 tonne and USD 4.69 billion in the year-ago period, with USA and South East Asia continuing to be the major importers.
During 2016-17, the total exports of marine products from Odisha stood at 47,204.97 tonne, valued at Rs 2,508.31 crore.
The major markets for seafood from Odisha include South East Asia (39 per cent) followed by USA (28 per cent), EU (11 per cent) and Japan (9 per cent) in terms of volume.
In terms of value, USA with 35 per cent stands ahead of South East Asia (30 per cent) followed by EU (11 per cent), Japan (10 per cent) and the Middle East (3 per cent).
Some of the major marine products exported from Odisha to countries like Japan, China, the US, UK, UAE, Indonesia and Hong Kong include frozen shrimps, frozen pompret, ribbon fish among others.
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