According to provisional figures available, seafood exports during the first two months of the current fiscal were estimated at 4,73,00 mt compared to the 55,100 mt last year registering a fall of 7,000 mt. In value terms, the exports declined to Rs 605 crore during the April-May period from Rs 635 crore during the same period last year, posting a decline of Rs 30 crore.

Sources attributed the fall mainly to the non-availability of raw materials. "The ban on aquaculture and a sharp fall in the shrimp landing were the majorreasons behind the fall", MPEDA chairman KB Pillai said. However, he said the trend could be reversed during the remaining period of the current fiscal and the 20 per cent target set by the commerce ministry could be achieved.

According to the MPEDA chairman, seafood exports hit a record high of Rs 4695.48 crore during the last fiscal. "This is the fourth year in a row that seafood exports have crossed the $1-billion mark," Pillai said.

Frozen fish continued to be the major item in the country's seafood export basket, accounting for 48.73 per cent in terms of volume. The share of frozen shrimps has shown a marginal decline from 27.88 per cent to 26.26 per cent in terms of volume compared to last year. However, he said value-wise, the export of frozen shrimp had shown a growth of 16.24 per cent compared to last year.

Cuttle fish has shown a growth both in terms of quantity and value by 19.50 per cent and 18.74 per cent respectively. Chilled marine products as well as frozen lobsters have also shown anincrease both in terms of volume and value. However, the export of frozen squid has declined by 14.24 per cent in terms of volume and 6.73 per cent in terms of value. Live items as well as dried marine products have also shown a negative growth both in terms of volume and value as well.

Frozen shrimp also continued to be the major item which fetched maximum foreign exchange, contributing a share of 66.86 per cent of the total value of marine products exported, he said, adding frozen fish with a share of 15.47 per cent are followed by frozen cuttle fish (6.88 per cent) frozen squid (5.77 per cent) frozen lobster (1.02 per cent) chilled items (0.94 per cent) dried items (0.72 per cent) live items (0.62 per cent). During the 1997-98, the industry carved out new market in Kenya, Mexico, Uruguay, Czech Republic, Israel and Hungary.

Export to markets such as South Africa, USA, Mexico, Peru, Poland, China, Indonesia, Japan, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Australia and Turkey had also increased during this year,Pillai said.

Japan continued to be the largest market in terms of value with a share of over 49.52 per cent of the total foreign exchange earned during 1997-98. Indian has become the top most supplier of shrimp to Japan in terms of quantity, with a market share of 20.99 per cent relegating Indonesia (20.36 per cent) to the second position, after a gap of 11 years. Export to Japan had grown steadily at an average rate of 21.7 per cent per year between 1995-96 and 1997-98, Pillai added.

Exports to the USA, the third largest single market for Indian marine products, had registered a marginal growth of 10.48 per cent in terms of volume and about 33.87 per cent in terms of value during 1997-98 over the previous year.

Exports to European Union, which was till recently the second largest market for Indian marine products, decreased considerably during 1997-98. From Rs 790.11 crore in 1996-97, exports decreased to Rs 412.53 crore registering a decline of 47.79 per cent in terms of value.

This is mainly due tothe ban imposed by the European Union on the import of marine products from India during August 1997 on quality grounds. During November 1997 the ban was lifted but only 27 out of 150 units exporting to European Union have so far been qualified to resume exports. Pillai said more units would shortly be qualified.