THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF COMMERCE & INDUSTRY (SHRI RAJIV PRATAP RUDY)
(a) The major item wise exports of marine products from India during the last three years have been as follows:-
(Quantity in Tons & Value in Rs. Crores)
Items 1999-2000 2000-2001 2001-2002 (Provisional)
Quantity Value Quantity Value Quantity Value
Frozen
Shrimps 110275 3645.22 111874 4481.55 124861 4073.10
Frozen
Fish 131304 537.34 212903 874.68 173382 705.51
Frozen
Squid 34918 296.80 37628 324.43 39097 323.74
Frozen
Cuttle Fish 32799 286.22 33677 288.99 29963 273.58
Others 33735 351.09 44391 474.28 50767 494.30
Total 343031 5116.67 440473 6443.89 418070 5870.23
Of which , the exports of marine products to Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, USA and
Canada during the last three years were as under:-
(Quantity in Tons & Value in Rs. Crores)
Country 1999-2000 2000-2001 2001-2002 (Provisional)
Quantity Value Quantity Value Quantity Value
Japan 66990 2272.78 68983 2560.39 64620 1815.38
South
Korea 3385 32.12 7772 50.38 15061 72.34
Taiwan 5100 36.80 5466 44.50 7439 53.49
USA 36645 775.35 41747 1164.40 48202 1402.97
Canada 3254 55.30 3193 59.67 3893 56.88
Source:- Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA)
(b) & (c) The exports of marine products during 2001-02 amounted to US $ 1235 million (Provisional) as against of US $ 1416 million during 2000-01, showing a decline of 12.8%. The global recession and consequent price fall in some of our major markets etc., are the main reasons for the decline in exports.
(d) In order to increase the exports of marine products, Government have been taking several steps, which include schemes for extending financial assistance to the seafood processing industry; steps to upgrade processing facilities to meet international standards of hygiene and quality; expansion of aquaculture; imparting training to aquaculture farmers to adopt sound management practices to prevent outbreak of diseases; assistance to produce value-added products for export; participation by MPEDA in international fairs, conducting overseas market surveys; etc.
(e) & (f) During the period from July, 1998 till March, 2002, Government has been intimated by the importing countries of 44 cases of rejection of Indian marine products. However, the number of cases in respect of other countries are not available with Government. All the cases were rejected by the European Union member states due to the reported presence of certain bacteria like Vibrio Cholera, Vibrio Parahaemoliticus, Salmonella and Nitrofurans etc.
(g) Based on the Certificate of Export issued by the concerned approved processing units, the value of Indian marine products rejected by importing countries during the last three years have been as follows:-
Year Value (in Rs. Crores)
1999-2000 0.30
2000-2001 2.66
2001-2002 3.80
Source:- Export Inspection Council of India
(h) Government have taken a number of steps to reduce the rejection of export consignment of marine products, which include:-
i) Laying down the essential requirements for hygienic handling of Fresh, Frozen and Processed Fish and Fishery Products at all stages of production, storage and transport to ensure effective compliance of the quality standards.
ii) Prescribing the maximum permissible level of antibiotics, pesticides and heavy metal in fish and fisheries product to ensure that fish and fisheries products are not contaminated with antibiotics, pesticides and heavy metal.
iii) Establishing procedure for complaint handling mechanism.
iv) Introduction of a three-tier surveillance system by EIC to ensure that the marine products processing units comply with the stipulated quality norms.
v) Issuing of advice by MPEDA has alerted all seafood exporters, processors, farmers, feed manufacturers, hatchery owners, etc., not to use the banned antibiotics in their Aquaculture inputs etc.
