Vijayawada: The Andhra Pradesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry Federation (AP Chambers) has written to Union Minister for MSME Jitan Ram Manjhi and Union minister for commerce and industry Piyush Goyal seeking urgent policy and financial interventions to address the crisis caused by the recent 50 per cent tariff imposed by the United States on Indian shrimp imports, in addition to existing Countervailing Duty (CVD) and anti-dumping duties.
In the representation, AP Chambers president Potluri Bhaskara Rao and general secretary B Rajasekhar stated that India, the second-largest seafood exporter globally, recorded exports worth Rs 60,523.89 crore (US$7.38 billion) in FY 2023–24, with the US alone accounting for nearly 25 percent of the trade.
Shrimp is the dominant export product, contributing 40.19 percent of total export quantity and 66.12 percent of export earnings (Rs 40,013.54 crore / US$4.88 billion). Andhra Pradesh, being the largest shrimp producing and exporting state in the country, is most severely impacted. The livelihoods of over 2.8 crore people engaged in aquaculture, including farmers, fishermen, processors, and workers, are now at stake.
Bhaskara Rao highlighted structural challenges compounding the crisis, including extremely low domestic consumption (only 300–400 grams per capita annually, far below global averages), overdependence on whiteleg shrimp (62 percent of value, 38 percent of volume), low levels of value addition (10 percent compared to 30–60 percent globally), and infrastructure gaps in cold chain, logistics, and certification support.
He submitted 14 key measures for immediate consideration, including nationwide campaign to promote domestic consumption of shrimp and fish. Urgent operationalisation of India’s Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) and Preferential Trade Agreements (PTAs) to expand access to alternative markets, expansion into new export destinations such as the UK, EU, South Korea, Middle East, Russia, and China, constitution of a high-powered committee with stakeholders to address issues on a daily basis, duty drawback and freight subsidies to offset tariff costs, export credit facilities, soft loans with interest subvention, and increased working capital limits to ease financial stress, direct financial assistance to small and medium aqua farmers, incentives for value addition, processing, and re-export strategies, government-backed promotion, branding, and certification of Indian seafood exports, facilitation of B2B linkages with buyers in alternative countries.
AP Chambers’ president Bhaskara Rao and general secretary B Rajasekhar said, “The livelihoods of millions of aqua farmers and workers in Andhra Pradesh are at stake. Unless urgent policy and financial interventions are taken, India risks losing global competitiveness in seafood exports. We strongly urge the Union Government to act swiftly in coordination with the state governments to safeguard this vital sector.”
