Exporters Fishing In Troubled Waters | Rajkot News – Times of India

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Rajkot: The slowdown in economy in China and the poor demand from European market have affected the fish exports from Gujarat in the current financial year, so much so that the inventory of frozen fish has reached a size of above 1 lakh tonne. This is a double whammy for the exporters.
Gujarat exports seafood worth around Rs 5,000 crore a year and of this, it sends to China seafood worth around Rs 2,500 crore, which is 50% of the total exports.Exporters say the export to China has been down by 20% to 25% in the new season that started in August.
Jagdish Fofandi, president of the All India Sea Food Exporters Association, said: “The fish of Gujarat coast is popular among restaurant-goers in China, but there is significant decrease in restaurant-goers there as they are in saving mode. There is a pocket of lower middle-class people in north China where there was a huge demand for our ribbon fish but that demand has shrunk.”
In 2023-24, China’s growth rate has been way below its earlier growth rate, which has resulted in high unemployment, thereby affecting the the seafood exports from Gujarat. In addition to the slowdown in China, the demand from European market is also down.
The European market’s share in total seafood export from Gujarat is around 30%. High-end fish like cuttlefish, pomfret, lobster and jumbo shrimp go to the European market. The European market is struggling with high energy prices, including high gas, electricity and fuel prices, because of the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine and this has caused huge inflation.
“Because of the slowdown in demand from China and European countries, there has been an inventory of more than 1 lakh tonne of frozen fish in our cold storages,” said Fofandi. In Gujarat, there are over 170 units which process and export fish and 150 of these units are in Veraval.
Leading exporter Kenny Thomas said, “There is a 20% to 30% drop in the export and it is a tough year. The inventory of all exporters in Gujarat is full because of slow off-take from European countries and uncertain conditions in China. The exporters are holding the inventory hoping things will change.”
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