Ecuador to grab India’s marine food market share

Chennai: Ecuador, which is facing no reciprocal tariffs from the US, is likely to grab India’s market share in marine food exports.

India exported marine goods valued $7.38 billion in FY24 and of this around $2.9 billion worth of shrimps went to the US. Most of the exports to the US consisted of shrimps and Ecuador is a major producer of shrimps.

Ecuador, the leading marine foods exporter to the US, shipped shrimps worth roughly $6.1 billion in 2024 to the country.

Under the new reciprocal tariffs, Indian exports will be charged 27 per cent by the US whereas Ecuador imports will be charged with 10 per cent basic tariffs. The 17 per cent additional tariffs will make Indian exports expensive in the US market. However, Indian exports will be cheaper than other suppliers like Vietnam which will be charged with reciprocal tariffs of 46 per cent and Indonesia 32 per cent.

“The new reciprocal tariffs are disadvantageous to the Indian marine exports and we fear that Ecuador with just basic tariffs will grab considerable market share from India,” said Ajay Sahai, director general, FIEO.

Till now, the maximum tariff imposed by the US on shrimp exported from India was around 8 per cent, including the countervailing duty of 5.7 per cent.

Further, proximity to the market would make Ecuador shrimps tastier than Indian shrimps.

Apart from the US, China and the European Union are the two other major imports of Indian marine foods. While one-third of the marine exports to the US is going to be hit by the tariffs, China and the European Union will not be able to compensate for the falling demand.