Boat owners are complaining of a fall in the price of the seasonally available flower tail prawns (poovalan) and called on the State government and the Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) to intervene to help boat operators.
The dip in the price of the shrimp variety appears to have been triggered by what they said was a fall in demand from seafood exporters. The All Kerala Fishing Boat Operators’ Association said that seafood exporters complained of a fall in demand from some of India’s traditional markets for shrimp.
Boat Operators’ Association general secretary Joseph Xavier Kalapurackal said the price of shrimp had come down from around ₹250 a kg to around ₹150 a kg. He said big and small boats operating near shores benefit from shrimp catch ahead of the annual ban on trawling that comes into effect in the middle of June.
But with the price of shrimp coming down, the season looks a washout for a segment of the fishing industry that has been hit by rising fuel cost and poor catch so far, he added. Boat owners want the government and agencies like MPEDA to take a look at the present price situation.
A seafood exporter in Kochi said there was virtually a standstill as far as Indian shrimp export was concerned in the Japanese market. The trend was visible in the European market after the Russia-Ukraine war started. The US market too has been affected. Besides, the exporter said, shrimp from Ecuador was being bought to the US market in large quantities.