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Marine product shipments, the second biggest item in terms of agri-shipments after rice, increased more than 14.3% year-on-year during the April-August period of FY27, with the overall exports rising to $3.65 billion.
In August 2026, marine shipments, including frozen shrimp varieties such as vannamei and tiger and frozen fish, rose by 27% year-on-year to $0.76 million, according to a quick estimate by the commerce ministry.
Robust growth in exports to the United States, India’s biggest market, and diversification of shipments to the European Union (EU) and other countries has led to the growth in shipments in FY27 so far.
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A leading exporter said that seafood product shipments to the United States have been stable for the last several months. A year ago, the shipments were hit following the imposition of an effective tariff of 59.71% by President Donald Trump’s administration, which was subsequently reduced to 18%.
“The effective import duty by the US on Indian products currently is being borne equally by both importers and exporters; thus, we have witnessed robust growth in shipments in the current fiscal,” P Jawahar, chairman, Marine Products Export Development Authority, told FE. Jawahar said that export prospects to the US look robust as major consumer demand peaks from October onwards.
Despite being hit by the high US tariff last year, India’s marine products exports increased 14% year-on-year to a record $8.43 billion in FY26, driven by a surge in shipments to several new markets such as Europe, China and Southeast Asia, an official said.
Last month, the European Union (EU) approved 21 additional Indian fishery establishments for exports, bringing the total units approved for shipment in the last one year to 123. Trade sources said that with the nod for the exports from these units, shipments will further rise, especially of aquaculture shrimp and cephalopods to the European market.
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The number of EU-approved Indian fishery export units has increased to 625 and these are spread across Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Odisha and Maharashtra.
The EU is the third-largest seafood export destination for India after China, accounting for over 15% of India’s total exports last fiscal. The major markets for Indian marine products shipments among the EU member states are Belgium, Spain, and Italy.
“There has been a surge in exports of the fish meals used as feed and oils due to a spike in global prices, while diversification of shipments to the EU, Vietnam, China and Russia has boosted overall shipments,” KN Raghavan, secretary general, Seafood Exporters Association of India, had earlier said.
TOPICSexportsThis article was first uploaded on September seventeen, twenty twenty-six, at twenty-nine minutes past eight in the night. © The Indian Express (P) Ltd