Indian shrimp exports to the US rose by 14% during the first half of 2019 despite a marginal decline in total imports by the US. Exports of shrimp from India to US for the period of January-June, 2019 stood at 115,694 tonne as against 101,440 tonne during the same period last year, according to the latest data of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Total imports of shrimp by US for the first six months of 2019 remained flat at 300,683 tonne compared to 302,495 tonne imported during the same period of 2018. Overall, US imported 695,332 tonne of shrimps last year. India is the second-largest fish producer in the world after China and accounts for nearly 6% of the global fish production. The country’s shrimp export growth is expected to slow down after four years of robust growth due to stiff competition from other suppliers, stricter controls and tariff barriers.
In 2018, US Department of Commerce had hiked the anti-dumping duty on Indian shrimps to 2.34% from earlier 0.84% in the preliminary results for the administrative review for 2016–2017.
The US government imposed an anti-dumping duty on frozen warm-water Indian shrimps in 2004, saying it was hurting US shrimp farmers. The Coalition of Gulf Shrimp Industries, an association of shrimp farmers, has been fighting aquaculture shrimp imports into US, claiming that artificially low-priced shrimp from seven countries including those from India have suppressed and depressed domestic prices.
The impact of implementation of Seafood Import Monitoring Programme (SIMP) for shrimp exports into US is also a key factor to be watched in Indian exports of shrimps to US. SIMP mandates stringent data requirements to trace the entire supply chain of seafood from the point-of-harvest to the point-of-entry into the US.
However, Indian shrimp exports in June was higher by 15.8 % at 20,559 tonne. Indonesia comes second in the list of countries exporting shrimps to US with 11,073 tonne shipment in June.
