Kamruzzaman Bablu :
Ongoing Russia-Ukraine war hits exports of Bangladeshi shrimp on international markets.
The Price volume of export Bangladeshi shrimp has dropped by 24 per cent in FY23, said insider.
Exporters opined that the demand for other fishes, including shrimp, decreased significantly due to the ongoing global economic recession.
Factors like lack of supply of the required volume of fish, product varieties and creation of new markets have long acted as deterrents to this decrease in export volume and income.
Bangladesh earned $422.28 million from frozen and live fish exports in FY23 against $532.94 million in FY22.
On the other hand, export earnings from frozen shrimp, which is the key item of the sector, were $300.26 million in FY23 and $407.25 million in FY22.
This downtrend persists in FY24 as the sector earned $29.40 million in July 2023 against $36.03 in July 2022, posting 18% lower earnings from fish items.
The same thing happened in shrimp export as earnings dropped over 33% in the first month of FY24.
It could earn $20.55 million in July 2023 against $30.85 million in July 2022, according to Export Promotion Bureau data released recently.
In a recent review meeting, organized by the Commerce Ministry, the Bangladesh Frozen Foods Exporters Association (BFFEA) highlighted different problems regarding production and export earnings.
No significant steps have so far been taken to increase shrimp production.
In most cases here, shrimp farming is currently done in the traditional way, so production is only 300-400 kg per hectare, which is the lowest in the world.
However, if shrimp farming is done scientifically, the production will be 3-4 tonnes per hectare, which has not been possible to expand so far.
Unlike leading exporters China and Vietnam, Bangladesh is still unable to produce higher value-added frozen shrimp products, which are in great demand abroad.
The machinery required to produce such products needs a lot of investment, according to exporters who spoke about skilled workers required for this job.
If higher value-added products could be exported, they observed, it was possible to earn five times more from this sector than now.
Some 70% of frozen fish units make products through an individual quick freezing process while 30% prepare value-added or ready-to-cook items.
But now the demand for ready-to-eat fish is increasing among buyers.
The Department of Fisheries has given permission for commercial production of white-leg shrimp in Bangladesh this March following a demand from shrimp exporters.
The government has also allowed for trial production of vannamei shrimp fry to meet the demand for quality post-larvae of the fish for cultivators.
More than 60 countries, including China, India, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Ecuador and Mexico, are producing vannamei, meeting about 80% of the total shrimp demand in the world.
