India's seafood exports grow 21% in 2017-18

Kochi: Setting a new high in exports, India's shipment of 13,77,244 MT of seafood earned $7.08 billion during the financial year 2017-18 as compared to figures of 11,34,948 MT and $5.77 billion respectively in the previous fiscal, registering a growth of 21.35 per cent.

Frozen shrimp and frozen fish continued to be the flagship export items, the Marine Products Exports Development Authority (MPEDA) said in a release here.

In rupee terms, the exports of marine products were pegged at Rs 45,106.89 crore as against Rs 37,870.90 crore in FY 2016-17, notching a healthy growth of 19.11 per cent, it said.

USA and South East Asia retained their positions as the major import markets of India's seafood products, with a share of 32.76 per cent and 31.59 per cent in dollar terms, respectively.

They are followed by EU (15.77 per cent), Japan (6.29 per cent), Middle East (4.10 per cent) and China (3.21 per cent).

Frozen shrimp accounted for 41.10 per cent in quantity and 68.46 per cent of the total dollar earnings.