Competition, duties pull down shrimp exports from state
Amaravati: The shrimp exports from the state are taking a hit owing to three main reasons-rejection of produce which contains antibiotics, increased competition from other countries and abnormal rise in Anti-Dumping duty by the United States.
Various countries barred sale of shrimps from AP in their countries in the 2017-18 financial year, since excessive traces of antibiotics were found in the produce. The ban is being implemented mainly by members of European Union and the US.
During a review meeting on aquaculture here on Monday, Chief Secretary Dinesh Kumar suggested to officials to create awareness among aqua farmers on the use of antibiotics.
On the other hand, the price of shrimps fell drastically on the global market thanks to increase in production from competitors like Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam. The price of shrimps has fallen to Rs 380 a kg from Rs 500 per a few years ago.
Australia, South Korea, Japan, Russia and other countries witnessed a slowdown in the market. In addition, the production has also increased within India too. States like Odisha, West Bengal, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu have witnessed a rise in production.
The US has increased Anti-Dumping Duty from 0.84 per cent to 2.34 per cent, further discouraging the imports, the officials told the Chief Secretary in the meeting.
The Anti-Dumping Duty is a protectionist tariff that governments impose on foreign imports that it believes are priced below fair market. At this juncture, Dinesh Kumar directed the officials to initiate market intervention to stabilise the domestic market.
He suggested exploring possibilities to extend financial assistance to the aqua farmers in the state in order to prevent losses.In the meeting, the Chief Secretary said that the district administrations must take responsibility to control the pollution caused by aquaculture.