Data from the Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying & Fisheries (DADF), showed marine product exports are estimated to have reached US$3.42bn, up 20% from 2011-12. .
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Agriculture, under which the department functions, said that the rise in export earnings was due to the good demand from South East Asian countries.
Since Japan’s Fukushima nuclear incident in 2011, demands for Indian marine products have increased, he added.
“There have been concerns with the fisheries sector in South East Asia after Fukushima. It is not hard to see that importers in target markets have perhaps altered their balance of sources,” he said.
Exports of frozen shrimp and fish have also registered a positive growth both in quantity and value, as well as frozen squids and cuttlefish, he detailed.
Rupee influence
“The falling value of the Indian rupee against the US dollar has also helped in the increase in value of marine exports from the country,” he said.The rupee now stands at about 55 to a dollar up from 45 to a dollar before 2011.
Not surprisingly, in the April-December period of the last financial year - when the rupee fell the most - India's marine food exports rose by almost 19% to US$2.62bn from US$2.21bn in the same period of the 2010-11 fiscal.
According to the DADF, India's marine exports include black tiger shrimp, fresh water prawn shrimp, frozen versatile fish, frozen skip jack and frozen squid mostly from Maharashtra, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.