US, China Major Importers of Frozen Shrimps

K.M.P. Patnaik | DC

Visakhapatnam, June 1

India's seafood exports hit a record high in both volume and value during the fiscal 2025-26, reaching 19.72 lakh tonnes, worth `73,890.46 ($8.46 billion), despite global challenges.

During the fiscal, the exports improved by 16.13 per cent in volume, 18.4 per cent in rupee value, and 13.44 per cent in dollar value, said marine products export development authority chairman P. Jawahar.

Visakhapatnam Port, he said, has emerged as India’s top seafood exporting gateway in fiscal 2025-26, clocking an impressive shipment of 3.28 lakh tonnes, valued at `20,217 crore.

The chairman said the US and China remained the major importers of Indian seafood. Frozen shrimp continued to be the leading export item, followed by frozen fish.

Mumbai-based Jawaharlal Nehru Port, which handled over 3.1 lakh tonnes of seafood, valued at `8,717 crore is ranked behind the Visakhapatnam port, followed by Kochi Port at the third position, logging over 1. 79 lakh tonnes (`7,285 crore), the Kolkata Port at the fourth position handling 1.07 lakh tonnes (`5,913 crore) and the Chennai Port at fifth handling 1,10 lakh tonnes (`5,411 crore) while others handled 9.2 lakh tonnes (`26,344 crore).

Out of India’s total seafood exports of $8.46 billion in 2025-26, shipments through the Vizag port were of $2.31 billion or 27.42 per cent.

The aquaculture ecosystem in Andhra Pradesh is one of the major factors for Vizag port’s performance, especially the production of vannamei shrimp variety. The high performance of Visakhapatnam Port underscores the port’s strategic importance and efficiency in handling large volumes of seafood exports.

Frozen shrimp continued to be the major export item in terms of quantity, generating `49,037.93 crore ($5,624.48 million), accounting for 40.19 per cent of the total quantity exported and 66.52 per cent of total dollar earnings from seafood exports. India exported 7,92,647mt of frozen shrimp in 2025-26. Shrimp exports registered growth of 13.16 per cent in rupee terms and 8.64 per cent in dollar terms.

Jawahar stated that the USA is the largest importer of frozen shrimp (2,56,128mt), followed by China (1,69,505mt), the European Union (1,35,599mt), Southeast Asia (83,810mt), Japan (40,776mt), the Middle East (30,478mt), and other countries (76,351mt). Exports of L vannamei (Whiteleg shrimp) and Black Tiger shrimp recorded growth in both volume and value.