The Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) will hold a conference on harmonising regulations for seafood among G20 countries in July this year, in an effort to make deeper inroads in the European market.
India holds the current year-long G20 presidency which will culminate in the annual summit in September this year. MPEDA also plans to hold a Shrimp Conference to bring together stakeholders in the shrimp value chain from the G20 countries this year. “A major objective of the conference is to make various stakeholders in India’s seafood industry aware of trade regulations and export prospects in the European countries, which are the third largest importers of our marine products,” MPEDA Chairman D V Swamy said.
A ‘Fish Food Festival’ will also be organised in New Delhi, inviting ambassadors from the top 20 markets of marine products, including G20 countries in the current year, MPEDA said in a release. “We want to ramp up our presence in European markets by meeting the stringent international quality control protocols, offering product diversification through value addition and ensuring the competitiveness of India’s marine products,” Swamy said. India has the most significant number of European Union (EU)-approved processing units adopting state-of-the-art technology in seafood processing, making the country an attractive market for machinery manufacturers, suppliers and certification bodies. The EU is sending raw materials to India to process marine products significantly, it said.
As part of its plans to boost European exports, MPEDA has also decided to hold an ‘International Buyer Seller Meet’ with particular emphasis on G20 countries during the February 15-17 India International Seafood Show (IISS) in Kolkata. A special technical session on G20 countries also will be organised parallel to the conclave. The number of seafood processing units in India increased from 133 in 1975 to 604 in 2022, with 1,275 registered exporters. The processing capacity rose from 614 tonne to 35,402 tonne during this period, MPEDA added. MPEDA has launched a system validating EU catch and ICCAT (The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas) certificates, besides opening many ELISA labs for pre-harvest testing that would provide sustainable and quality seafood.
During 2021-22, India exported 13,69,264 tonne of marine products worth USD 7.76 billion (Rs 575.86 billion), registering an all-time high export by value, MPEDA said. Shrimp production crossed 1 million metric tonne, accounting for around a 21 per cent share of the global shrimp trade. Frozen shrimp remained the major export item in quantity and value, accounting for a share of 53 per cent in quantity and 75 per cent of the total revenue. The United States was the largest market, with a 43.45 per cent share in dollar terms, followed by China (15.14 per cent), Europe (14.98 per cent) and Southeast Asia (10.04 per cent).
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