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Shrimp exporters in gloom as global crisis lingers

Md Fazlur Rahman
Shrimp exporters continue to face difficult times due to declining demand for the expensive food items in the crisis-hit developed world.
Industry-people said they fear a further drop in overseas sales as people in Bangladesh's export destinations are cutting back on their consumption.
"The future is bleak/' said Kazi Belayet Hossain, a former president of Bangladesh Frozen Fish Exporters' Association.
"It will be tough to survive if the present economic situation continues in the west."
More than 80 percent of the total shrimp exports go to the El J and US markets.
The problem in the west has hit hard exports of frozen food items, where shrimp account for 70 percent.
Frozen food exporters brought home $598.42 million in the last fiscal year, down by 4.26 percent compared to a year before.
The industry-people said finding new markets and cultivating new varieties could help save the once highly potentialsector. Hossain, one of the leading exporters to the USA, said the price of a pound (16 to 20 pieces) of black tiger variety of shrimp is now at $3.80, which was S 7 last year.
European countries are offering $3.90 to $4.20 for a pound of black tiger, and some exporters are being able to sell some items at that price.
Hossain said the exporters are not even being able to sell their items at $3.80 a pound in the US market.
Consumers in the US and the EU now prefer cheap vannamei shrimp.
The exporters fear their exports would go down further as economic slowdown in the US and the financial crisis in the EU persist.
They said they cannot sell the items at lower prices as the cost of production is higher in Bangladesh.
Kazi Shahnewaz, president of the association, said due to a fall in the prices and a slowdown in demand, Bangladesh's farmers did not cultivate shrimp in 55,000 hectares of land this year.
Shrimp is cultivated in 3.26 lakh hectares of land in Bangladesh.
He said Bangladesh has to find new markets such as Russia and cultivate small-size verities such as vannamei to sustain the business.
Shahnewaz also urged the government to increase cash incentive for them to 15 percent from the current 10 percent.
He said vannamei shrimp is a high yielding verity. A hectare of land can produce up to 10 tonnes, whereas a similar land produces 200 to 250 kilogram of black tiger.
Ashim Kumar Barua, director of Apex Foods Ltd, a leading exporter of value-added shrimps and frozen food items, said the delay in carrying shrimp to the US by the Bangladeshi exporters is also a reason behind a fall in demand for the Bangladeshi items.
He said it takes Mexican exporters 10 days to take their shrimp to the US, whereas Bangladeshi exporters need more than one month.
Bangladeshi exporters also face tough testing at the hands of US Food and Drug Administration, he said.
People are running after cheap items. As a result, exporters from Vietnam, India and Thailand are having a good time, he said.
Kumar, however, suggests Bangladeshi farmers should stick to traditional shrimp varieties instead of vannamei.