India Seafood Market: When US President Donald Trump imposed 50 percent tariff on India in August, an industry in the country suffered a major blow. This industry is India’s largest seafood market, which was deeply affected by the tariff. In particular, the tariff badly affected India’s shrimp exports because the US is a major buyer of Indian shrimp.
Business ruined due to tariff
India sends billions of dollars worth of shrimp to America every year and this business was completely ruined by the tariffs. Due to the tariff, the prices of shrimp in America increased by 20-21 percent and this increased burden of tariff fell on the consumers there. In such a situation, many orders of shrimp from America were cancelled. The matter deepened and shrimp exports from Andhra Pradesh to America declined by 59.72 percent. Obviously, this caused huge loss to the exporters.
Now the industry is preparing to make a comeback
Andhra Pradesh is the largest shrimp producing state in the country. Due to the losses caused by the tariffs, many seafood processing units here were closed as exporters were finding it difficult to cope with the sudden increase in business expenses. But now this industry has made an amazing comeback. India is exploring new markets while reducing its dependence on America for shrimp exports. These include Russia and the European Union.
India has also signed an agreement with Russia, under which Russia will allow export of about 25 fish processing units of India to its market. With this approval, now these units will be able to export their products directly to Russia. Recently the European Union (EU) also approved 102 new marine units of India.
Shrimp has the highest share in India’s seafood exports. In 2024–25, India exported shrimp worth $4.88 billion, which is about 66 percent of the total seafood exports. But Trump’s tariffs spoiled the whole game. However, now this industry of the country is slowly recovering by finding new paths. In this sequence, India is also in talks with UAE so that the industry there can get some new opportunities for its products.
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