India will hold talks with China to sort out the issues connected with the Chinese authorities’ decision to strictly monitor Indian seafood consignments on white spot syndrome virus following detention of some marine food consignments from the country.

KS Srinivas, Chairman, Marine Products Export Development Authority, said China is an emerging and promising market for Indian marine products as the Chinese exports have crossed $1 billion during January-November 2019 compared to $0.5 billion in the previous period.

“We are negotiating with the Chinese government as per the WTO guidelines as they have stopped shipments from a few companies after finding some virus residues in some consignments,” he said. A trade delegation will soon go to China after the coronavirus scare subsides to discuss on the steps taken to contain WSS virus, he said.

Seafood show

The three-day international seafood show will begin here on Friday.

‘Blue Revolution: Beyond Production to Value Addition’ is the theme of the show, organised jointly by Mpeda and the Seafood Exporters Association of India.

Elias Sait, Secretary General, Seafood Exporters Association of India said the coronavirus issue has not impacted seafood exports to China as it is a very large country. The coronavirus scare has not impacted the seafood show either, which is evident from the participation of delegates which touched 1,500 from 12 countries, he said.

To a question, the Mpeda Chairman said climate change has taken a toll on sea caught fish varieties, especially on the west coast which resulted in a 5 per cent drop in exports both in terms of quantity and value. However, with a multi-pronged strategy addressing capture fisheries and aquaculture, it is expected to achieve an export turnover of $15 billion in the next five years. During 2018-19, India shipped over 14,37,000 tonnes of marine products worth over $6.70 billion, he added.

The Mpeda has also decided to modernise 25 fishing harbours in the country at a proposed investment of ₹2,500 crore. To begin with, two fishing harbours – one in Thoppumpady in Kochi and the other in Nizampatnam in Andhra Pradesh – will be taken up for upgradation and modernisation. The consultants Ernst & Young has been entrusted to prepare a DPR. After getting approval, a SPV will be formed to implement the project, he said.

Srinivas also emphasised the need for value addition as 95 per cent of seafood exports from India is in raw form while value addition was almost 50 per cent in Indonesia and Vietnam. To compete, India has to raise its percentage of value added products, he added.

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