Trump's tariff storm: India's seafood exports face a critical challenge, with frozen shrimp at risk

India's marine exports, primarily frozen shrimp, could be significantly impacted by the U.S. imposition of a 26% tariff, as the U.S. and China are the major importers of Indian seafood.

In the financial year 2023-24, India exported an all-time high volume of 1,781,602 million tonnes (MT) of seafood, worth $7.38 billion (₹60,523.89 crore). Of this, frozen shrimp was the dominant export in both quantity and value, accounting for 40.19% of the quantity and 66.12% of the total earnings.

The total export of frozen shrimp during 2023-24 amounted to 716,004 MT, worth $4.88 billion. The U.S. was the single largest importer (297,571 MT) of frozen shrimp from India, valued at $2.9 billion, followed by China (148,483 MT) and the European Union (89,697 MT).

The U.S. is the biggest market for India's Vannamei and Black Tiger varieties of shrimp. India exported $4.25 billion worth of Vannamei shrimp in FY24, with 53.52% of it going to the U.S. Out of the total Black Tiger (BT) shrimp exports, valued at $347.84 million during the same period, nearly 29% was exported to the U.S.

In contrast, India imports marine products worth only about ₹340 crore, such as salmon fish, from the U.S. Sources indicate that the U.S. has been charging tariffs of less than 10% on marine product imports from India, while India imposes a 30% duty on all marine product imports from any country.

Recently, the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC), as part of its anti-dumping duty investigations on frozen water shrimp, imposed higher countervailing duties (CVD) on major shrimp exporters to the U.S., such as India, Ecuador, Indonesia, and Vietnam. The final CVD on shrimp exports to the U.S. stands at 5.7% for India, compared to 3.75% for Ecuador and 2.84% for Indonesia and Vietnam. The new tariffs on imports from Vietnam are 46%, while Taiwan and Indonesia face 32% tariffs, compared to 26% for India.