Aquaculture for all

Seafood industry facing crisis

KOCHI - The beleaguered seafood industry is passing through a crisis, owing to shortage of raw materials, devaluation of the dollar and anti-dumping duty imposed by the United States Department of Commerce, said the former national president of the Seafood Exporters Association of India (SEAI) A.J. Tharakan.

He was addressing the 37th annual general meeting of the Association here recently.

However, the Indian seafood industry has grown to a stage where it has been recognised as a major industry and gained reputation at the national and international level, he said.

Mr. Tharakan explained in detail the highs and lows in industry the during the past few years and noted that like any other industry, the seafood industry was also considered for enhancement of the Duty Entitlement Passbook Scheme (DEPB) from 5 per cent to 8 per cent to compensate the losses incurred by the exporters due to devaluation of the dollar. Subsequently the additional DEPB granted to most of the industries was withdrawn by the Ministry of Commerce.

The SEAI could convince the ministry concerned of the need to grant enhanced DEPB to the seafood industry, which resulted in enhancing the DEPB on fishing industry from 5 to 8 per cent.

Source: The Hindu
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