Indian Seafood Export had a good run in the financial year 2018. India continues to be a leading exporter of seafood especially in the frozen shrimp sector. The seafood exports figures have been consistently growing crossing the $7 billion in 2018 with a more than 2 lac tonnes increase from the previous year. US and South East Asia continue to be the main importers followed by EU, Japan, West Asia and China.

Frozen shrimp continues to be the key contributing factor in the rise in the overall seafood export numbers. It accounts for nearly 40% of the total shipment and over 60% of total earning in seafood export. The growth of the frozen shrimp export is indeed a commendable given a multitude of factors working against it. A wide array of challenges, starting from oversupply issues owing to exports from Ecuador and Argentina, increased supply from Vietnam and Thailand, issues relating to antibiotic residue and drop in prices have not been able to curtail India’s steady growth in the frozen shrimp market.

India continues to be the leading exporter for frozen shrimp to US ,followed by South-East Asia, the EU, Japan, West Asia and China. More than half the Vannamei shrimp exported by India is to the US and about 43% of Black Tiger shrimp is exported to Japan.

Whether India would sustain its leading position in 2019, and what new figures are waiting to be breached would be interesting to watch.