Seafood Exporters Association of India (SEAI) has voiced concern over the delay in issuing Special Import Permits (SIP) for importing raw materials for value added export production of marine products.
Jagdish Fofandi, national president of SEAI, said it takes a minimum 3 to 4 weeks or sometimes more to obtain an SIP.
To speed up the process of SIP issuance, he said the Agriculture Ministry could delegate such a function to Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) and ratified by the Agriculture Ministry later. SEAI has sought urgent intervention of the Ministry in fast-tracking this procedure, he added.
India, Fofandi says, has now an opportunity to emerge as a leading international value added seafood processing export hub like Thailand, China and Vietnam. The Ministry’s intervention would result in a substantial increase in joint venture investment by international seafood majors with Indian exporters for value added exports, he said.
Post Covid, he said, marine products recorded a growth of 30 per cent, reaching an all-time high of $7.8 billion. However, the current year will witness a small drop in export value by 3-5 per cent as well as quantities due to adverse market situations globally.
Addressing the India International Seafood Show 2023, Fofandi also raised apprehensions over the recent notification of the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying in allowing import of Specific Pathogen Free (SPF) brood stock of crustaceans from South-East Asian countries. The disease of Early Mortality Syndrome (EMS) originated in South-East Asian countries like Thailand decimates their production of aquaculture shrimps. .
This has impacted Vietnam, China and several others. India is one of the few countries which did not encounter this dreaded disease due to the banning of SPF broodstock from Thailand and other S-E Asian countries, he said.
He pointed out that the country’s exports of ₹57,000 crore are threatened with this notification. SEAI is making a representation to the Prime Minister on this issue urgently.
FTAs with EEC and UK should clearly focus on getting zero duties incorporated for Indian marine products into EEC and UK in line with competing countries like Ecuador, Vietnam, Bangladesh and Indonesia offering. India should also offer ‘zero to zero’ duty structure for marine products imported, Fofandi added.
(The writer is in Kolkata at the invitation of MPEDA)