For the first time, India’s seafood exports crossed $7 billion to touch $7.08 billion while its shipments touched 13,77,244 MT during the financial year 2017-18. In rupee terms, the exports of marine products were at Rs 45,106.89 crore as against Rs 37,870.90 crore in FY 2016-17 registering a growth of 19.11 per cent.

Frozen shrimp and frozen fish continued to be the flagship export items. The figures were released by the Marine Products Exports Development Authority (MPEDA) on Monday. The US and South East Asia continued to be the major importers of Indian seafood with a share of 32.76 per cent and 31.59 per cent, followed by the EU (15.77 per cent), Japan (6.29 per cent), Middle East (4.10 per cent) and China (3.21 per cent).

“In the face of continued uncertainties in the global seafood trade, India has been able to cling on to its position as a leading supplier of frozen shrimp and frozen fish in the international markets. “With a string of initiatives and policy support, we intend to achieve an export target of $10 billion by 2022,” said MPEDA chairman A. Jayathilak.

Frozen shrimp maintained its position as the key contributor to the seafood export basket, accounting for 41.10 per cent in quantity and 68.46 per cent of the total dollar earnings. The overall exports of shrimp during 2017-18 were 5,65,980 MT worth $4,848.19 million, with the US continuing to be the largest market. Vizag, Kochi, Kolkata, Pipavav, Krishnapatanam and JNP were the major ports for the marine products cargo.