Seafood Exports Drop in Value

Chennai: Despite registering a growth in volume terms, seafood shipments saw 5 per cent drop in export revenues in FY24. India shipped 17,81,602 MT of seafood worth Rs 60,523.89 crore ($7.38 billion) during 2023-24, as per the government data. In FY24, the export improved in quantity terms by 2.67 per cent from 17,35,286 MT in FY23. However, in value terms, exports were down 5 per cent compared to Rs 63,969.14 crore ($8,094.31million) garnered in FY23.

Frozen shrimp remained the major export item in quantity and value, while the USA and China were the major importers of India’s seafood.Frozen shrimp, which earned Rs 40,013.54 crore ($4881.27million) accounted for 40.19 per cent share in quantity and 66.12 per cent of the total dollar earnings. Vannamei shrimp exports, which grew by 0.33 per cent by volume and declined 11.56 per cent in dollar terms, was mainly responsible for lower export revenues.

Frozen fish, the second largest exported item, fetched Rs 5,509.69 crore ($671.17 million), accounting for 21.42 per cent in quantity and 9.09 per cent in dollar earnings.

Fish and shrimp- meal and feed, the third most prominent item in the export basket, earned Rs 3684.79 crore ($449.17 million) and accounted for 15.89 per cent share in quantity and 6.08 per cent in dollar earnings.

As for overseas markets, the US continued to be the major importer of Indian seafood in value terms, with an import worth $2,549.15 million, accounting for a share of 34.53 per cent. Exports to the US increased 7.46 per cent in volumes and 1.42 per cent in value.

China emerged as the second largest seafood export destination, accounting for 25.33 per cent share in quantity and 18.76 per cent in dollar terms.