Trend of Export of Marine Products from India in Recent Years

Marine product is one of the most important items of export from India. The marine fisheries sector not only provides opportunities to earn foreign exchange but also generates income opportunities for a large section of our population. The present paper attempts to capture the trends in the growth of marine product exports, their composition, port wise and destination wise distribution and the effort being made by the government to boost the marine fisheries sector. The study is based on secondary data from 1995-96 to 2021-22 collected from various published sources. The data shows that India’s export of marine products registers a positive trend; though there exist some years with negative growth. Frozen shrimp is the largest export item while Vizag is the number one port in respect of marine product export. The USA, China and European Union (EU) are major importers of India's marine products. The government has come out with several policies and measures to promote the export of marine products and to develop the livelihood of the people engaged in the marine fisheries sector.


Introduction
The marine fisheries sector plays a very important role in the Indian economy. The fisheries sector assumes significance in the Indian economy in several respects. The most important amongst them is the providence of livelihood to many poor households especially those located in the coastal areas. These households can generate income from the sector because many varieties of marine fish have been exported from the country including chilled and dried items, fish oil, shrimp and prawn. Thus from the point of employment and income generation, international trade has considerable significance as well (Rajeev, 2008). India's vast coastline of 8129 kilometers stretching almost two-thirds of the country and encompassing an exclusive economic zone of 2 million square kilometers offers a sufficient surplus of fish and fisheries products for external trade after catering to the domestic demand (Shinoj et al., 2009). India is the fourth largest exporter of fish. As of 2021-22, marine products with export earnings crossing Rs.57,586 crore constituted 1.64 per cent of the total exports from India(GOI, 2022). Fisheries export from India was 0.32 per cent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and 2 per cent of its Value Added in Agriculture and allied sectors (MPEDA, 2022, CSO, 2022. In this context, this study attempted to analyze the trend in the growth of marine product exports, changes in their composition and destination pattern. This paper also tries to assess the measures taken by the government to promote marine product export and to develop the economic conditions of those who are engaged in the marine fisheries sector in our country.

Data and Methodology
The present study is based on secondary data. Data  (ii) The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture, 2022 Simple statistical tools like tables, charts, graphs,percentages, and averages are used in this study. To study the growth ofquantity exported and export value realized from exports areanalyzed using the CompoundAnnual Growth rate (CAGR). Shinoj et al. (2009) showed that frozen shrimp and fin fish arethe largest export items, the primary destination being EU, Japanand USA. It has been observed that India's export basket has gotdiversified and is showing a dent towards low-valued exportsrouted to South East Asia and Middle East at the expense ofpremium priced shrimp which is used to find the market in Japan. Rajeev (2008) showed that though India has witnessedfluctuating growths in fish exports, there was a positive trend inthe growth rates of marine fish export in recent years. Initially, India's import of fisheries products was high, but it fell drasticallylater and remains low till now. Krishnan et al. (1994) showed that India's export registered apositive growth rate during the period 1951-52 to 1991-92,though the share of the exports of marine products in agriculturalexports has been declining during the same period. Among themarine product items, Frozen shrimp (black tiger prawn)constituted to be the dominant item even though itsshare in total marine product exports declined over the years. Das, Kumar and Rani (2016) estimated the growth of marine products from India. Based on the estimates they showed a significant growth rate of marine products export. From the direction of trade USA, China, EU, are the major countries/regions. Therefore, according to them, export promotion activities should orient towards these countries for further expansion of exports.

Marine Fish Export from India
India is currently the second largest fish producer in the world after China. In 2020, World's fish production reached 178 million tonnes. Out of this India's contribution was 14 million tonnes or 8%, while China produced around 64 million tonnes or 36%. (FAO, 2022) According to the data from the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), India was the sixth fish exporting country in the world. Income from the sale of exportable species is an important component of the income of coastal fishers. Fisheries are not only a source of employment, income and food security, but it is also an important source of foreign exchange in India. Among India's primary product exports, marine products are the most significant commodity group. The export earnings from seafood stood at Rs.57,586.48 crore in 2021-22. The data on exports of marine products from India from 1995-96 to 2021-22 is presented in Table 1. In 1995-96, India's marine product exports were 296.28 million tonnes which increased to 1369.26 million tonnes, more than four and half times. The trend of marine fish product export has shown a positive trend in terms of both quantity and value measured in terms of Rupees. The compound Annual Growth Rates (CAGRs) for quantity and value are 6.55 per cent and 15.42 per cent respectively. The export data show some fluctuations as well as some negative annual growth. Perhaps the most important feature is the consecutive decline in exports during 2019-20 to 2020-21. This may be attributed to the worldwide spread of the Covid-19 pandemic. But we can observe a significant increase in exports of marine products in the immediate next year.

Country/Region Wise Export of Marine Products
India exports to over 100 countries and imports small quantities of fish and fish products from over 20 countries. Major destinations of India's marine products are Japan, United States of America (USA), European Union (EU), China, South East Asia and Middle East. Table 2 shows the country/region wise export data of marine products. USA accounted for the largest share of India's exports followed by China, EU and South East Asia. During 2020-21 to 2021-22, EU registered the highest growth rate in terms of both quantity and value.

Item Wise Export of Marine Products
India mainly exports frozen shrimp, frozen fish, frozen cuttle fish, frozen squid, live items and chilled items. Table 3 shows the item wise figures of marine products exported from India. In terms of quantity, frozen shrimp accounted for about 53 per cent of the total exports. It occupied about 74 per cent of export value in 2021-22. In terms of growth rate, live items stood first during 2020-21 to 2021-22 in terms of quantity (60.57%) and chilled items in terms of value (53.45).

Port wise export of marine products
The top five ports which handled marine products cargo in 2021-22 were Vizeg, Kolkata, Kochi, Chennai, and Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT), contributing about 69 per cent in Rupee terms. The details are shown in Table 4 below. Vizag stood first among ports in terms of both quantity and value in rupees during 2021-22. During the same time, Kochi stood second in terms of quantity and Kolkata in terms of value.

Conclusion
Fisheries are one of our priority topics in the first phase because of their importance to our economies in many ways. Not only in respect of exports but the scope of the fisheries sector as a provider of employment and income is to be realized in full measure. This can be best observed from our study. The concluding remarks can be summarized as under.
The export growth estimates for marine products indicated that there is significant growth in the export quantity and value in terms of rupees. Frozen shrimp and frozen fish are the largest export items, the primary destination being USA, China and EU. Therefore, export promotion activities should orient towards these countries for further expansion of exports. Vizag port is the number one marine product exporting port followed by Kolkata and Kochi port.