India’s Marine Products Exports Development Authority (MPEDA) is pushing to double the nation’s manufacturing of value-added seafood over the following seven years.

Value-added seafood merchandise are in greater demand within the U.S, E.U., Japan, and Asia, and ship greater income, based on MPEDA Chairman D V Swamy.

“We are aiming to achieve 20 percent value addition by 2030 given the changing preferences in the consumer market and rising competition from countries such as Thailand, Vietnam, and China,” Swamy told the Hindu BusinessLine.

India’s seafood exports reached USD 8.09 billion (EUR 7.36 billion) in value the most recent fiscal year, with value-added merchandise accounting for 10 p.c of the full, or roughly USD 860 million (EUR 783 million). The international seafood market is valued at USD 189 billion (EUR 172 billion), with value-added merchandise representing 18 p.c of that quantity, or USD 34 billion (EUR 31 billion). India due to this fact controls round 2.5 p.c of the worldwide market for value-added seafood merchandise, Swamy stated.

MPEDA hosted its first coaching session on 21 November with two Vietnamese seafood processing consultants, Tran Quoc Son and Chu Thi Tuyet Mai. Representatives of twenty-two Indian seafood corporations have been current, and got instruction on easy methods to implement value-added processes into seafood processing amenities. Six an identical trainings will happen on the east and west coasts of the nation by way of December, based on MPEDA.

To meet the purpose, MPEDA has launched a multi-pronged improvement initiative that features capacity-building initiatives for the processing sector, employee coaching packages, and political initiatives to cut back paperwork and transition prices to the trade.

Swamy stated to hasten the transition, MPEDA has been requested by Indian exporters to foyer for the removing of tariffs on breadcrumbs, sauces, pre-dust, coconut shavings, plastic trays, and different elements of value-added seafood processing. They additionally requested India’s import responsibility exemption be raised from 1 p.c to three p.c of the freight on board (FOB) worth of value-added exports.

India, the world’s third-largest fish producer, second-largest aquaculture producer, and fourth-largest seafood exporter, has plans to turn into an excellent larger seafood participant, having set a goal of reaching USD 14 billion (EUR 13.2 billion) in seafood exports by 2025.

Swamy reported India’s seafood exports have elevated 6 p.c by quantity to date within the present fiscal yr, which ends in March 2024, which is up yr over yr. That features a 17 p.c improve in August 2023 and a 19 p.c improve in September. However, Swamy stated exports are down by worth on account of decrease costs, which he stated have now stabilized. Despite the headwinds, which incorporates political turbulence in the U.S. – India’s largest export market – India’s seafood trade remains to be hoping to equal or higher its export figures from the earlier fiscal yr, Swamy stated.

At the Global Fisheries Conference in Ahmedabad, India, on 22 November, India Minister of State for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying L Murugan stated the federal government will proceed to help the trade’s transition from near-shore to deep-sea fishing, offering monetary help of as much as 60 p.c of the price of changing fishing boats to allow them to journey additional offshore. Furthermore, it is going to present low- or no-interest loans to cowl the rest of the fee through India’s Blue Revolution and the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY) packages.

“Tuna fishes are in excessive demand worldwide, and India has the potential to extend its tuna-fishing capability. However, we want technological developments on this space,” he said. “There is a need for research and design in upgrading fishing vessels to effectively harness the potential of deep-sea fishing in a sustainable way.”

Murugan referred to as for extra start-ups to enter the deep-sea fishing sector and inspired additional collaboration between Indian analysis companies, together with the Indian Space Research Organisation’s Space Application Center, to make fishing extra environment friendly and safer. 

World Bank Consultant Arthur Neiland estimated India is using simply 12 p.c of the tuna in its unique financial zone, with the sustainable yields estimated to be round 179,000 metric tons yearly, however with India’s catches of yellowfin and skipjack tunas reaching 25,259 MT in 2022.

Photo courtesy of Marine Products Exports Development Authority of India