Owing to the oil spill in Mexico around the shrimp harvesting season, the domestic exporters are hopeful of recording high sales in the US  The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in April this year sees to hold lucrative opportunities for domestic exporters. Due to the incident, there has been a short supply of seafood products in the US, thereby resulting in a price increase by 40%. With the oil spill occurring just before the commencement of the shrimp harvesting season around the middle of May, it has proved to be favourable for domestic exporters. This is expected to encourage domestic seafood exporters to gain a strong foothold in the global market.
According to Anwar Hashim, president of Seafood Exporters Association of India (SEAI), “One-year holiday has been declared in the fishing area of Mexico. Players involved in the fishing activity will be given compensation for the losses. The short supply of seafood products in the US has given the opportunity to domestic exporters to improve their sales. However, owing to stiff competition from processing hubs such as Thailand, Taiwan and Indonesia, Indian exporters have to bring about value addition in the seafood products.”
Methods of improving sales
“The quality standard of Indian seafood products can be improved by utilising latest technology, machinery as well as by introducing more cold chains in the country, which would help in retaining both freshness and nutritional value of the products,” Sanjeev Sharma, CEO of Gesco International, a mid-sized seafood and fish exporter in Ludhiana, Punjab.
The domestic exporters can improve their profits by implementing duty-free import and re-export of the seafood products. Increase in anti-dumping duty has discouraged many domestic exporters to exports seafood products to the US. As a result, there has been a decline in the number of exporters from 225 in 2004 to 70 in 2010. However, with the prolonged impact of the oil spill in Mexico, the domestic seafood exporters can benefit by improving their product quality, thereby increasing their exports to the US as well as other foreign countries.
Sabrina Mitchell
|
