Amid US tariff pause, Andhra shrimp exporters remain concerned

The pause announced by the US government on the imposition of 26% reciprocal tariffs on imports from India till July 9 has brought some respite to the shrimp sector in Andhra Pradesh, but the exporters have raised concerns that the crisis is far from over.

- Srinivasa Rao Apparasu

HYDERABAD:

According to the Seafood Exporters' Association of India (SEAI), Andhra Pradesh accounts for 75% of India's shrimp exports. During 2023-24, marine food products worth $2.55 billion were exported from India to the US, with shrimp accounting for 92% of these exports.

"The average shrimp production is around 6.5 lakh (650,000) metric tonnes, which is nearly 70% of the total production in the country. More than 95% of this production is exported, of which nearly 50% is exported to the US market," SEAI president G Pawan Kumar said.

On April 2, the US government announced the imposition of 27% import duty on marine products from India. "This came into effect April 5 and our shrimp exports to the US, which is the largest importer of shrimp, were hit hard due to heavy tariffs. At one stage, we were apprehensive that we may have to close down the industry," Kumar said.

However, Wednesday's announcement by US president Donald Trump pausing the imposition of 27% reciprocal tariff for 90 days for all nations, except China, came as a respite to the shrimp exporters. "But this is only partial relief. Of this 27% import tariff, the baseline tariff of 10% continues to be there on imports. So, effectively, the burden has come down by 17%," he said.