Export of frozen food has been experiencing a declining trend for the last two and a half years mainly due to short supply of shrimps, the key exportable item of this sector, sector insiders have said. Currently, exporters can supply only 15 per cent of raw materials against the capacity of their processing plants as there is a scarcity of raw materials in local market. Thus the production cost is increasing and they are facing a tough competition in international market, said exporters. They also feared that if the local production of shrimps does not increase, earnings from this sector will be shrinking gradually in the coming days. Many shrimp farmers are already struggling hard to survive due to non-availability of raw materials. The export earnings from the frozen food sector dropped by 1.89 per cent during the last five months of the just-concluded fiscal year (FY) 2016-17 while the earnings fell to 5.68 per cent and 11 per cent in FY 2015-16 and FY 2014-15 respectively, according to the Bangladesh Frozen Foods Exporters Association (BFFEA). The target of export earnings dropped by 3.04 per cent during the July-May period of FY 2016-17. The sector earned US$ 472.85 million against the target US$ 487.67 million, it said. Talking to the FE, BFFEA president Amin Ullah said many of their factories are struggling hard to survive due to non-availability of raw materials. “If we want to continue our business, there is no alternative to increasing production of shrimps,” he said. “Despite a large demand for frozen shrimps in global market, we are unable to tap the opportunities as the product cost is more than that of other exporting countries,” he also said. Key shrimp exporting countries are producing low-priced vannamei variety. So Bangladesh is facing a tough competition in international market, he said. He said the production of shrimp is declining gradually in traditional system because of climate change and lack of infrastructures. So the government should develop infrastructures immediately. He also urged the government to provide necessary training and bank loan to the shrimp cultivators for farming shrimp in semi-intensive method. Although production usually increases in semi-intensive system, it is yet to see healthy growth in the absence of training and bank loan at a lower rate, he said. There is a good demand for vannamei shrimp. But farmers are yet to get permission to produce it. He urged the government to give permission to produce this variety. Abul Bashar, deputy managing director of Lockpur Group of Industries Ltd, a leading frozen fish exporter, said Bangladesh is not farming black tiger in a proper way. Through advanced technology like improved extensive and semi-intensive system, production could be increased several times than that of the present volume. So the government should give proper support to apply these methods, he said. Thisl strengthen the local exporters’ ability to compete with their rivals, especially Indians, Chinese and Vietnamese, he added. According to him, farmers get 300 to 400 kg black tiger per hectare with traditional cultivation method but semi-intensive and improved extensive system can yield more than 1,000 kg per hectare. “There is no alternative but to increase production of shrimp in the country as our products are not getting price competitiveness in international market,” he added. He also emphasised the need for exporting high value-added products to increase earnings from this sector. High value-added and super value-added products are being exported in global market. Bangladesh is still now lagging behind in producing high value-added frozen food. The shipment of other non-traditional items including crab and eel should be increased to earn more foreign currency, he added. The US was the single largest market for Bangladeshi frozen shrimp, but now its ranking fell to the fifth position due to the declining trend of exports. The earnings from the European Union and Russia also declined significantly in the last five years, exporters said. According to the BFFEA statistics, the sector exported 40,726 tonnes of shrimp in the fiscal year (FY) 2015-16. But the volume was 73,611.81 tonnes in the FY 2010-11. Bangladesh exports frozen fish to more than 50 countries and nearly 90 per cent of the total exported fish is shrimp with the EU being the major importing region. Nearly 80 per cent of Bangladeshi exported shrimp is black tiger (Bagda) while the rest is prawn (Golda). China is the top shrimp exporting country in the world followed by Ecuador, India, Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand.