The government has taken initiatives to brand “Black Tiger”, a Bangladeshi shrimp species, to boost export to the US market in the face of recent decline in export earning.
As part of the initiative, a delegation led by Senior Commerce Secretary Hedayetullah Al Mamoon will visit Seafood Expo North America (SENA) to be held from March 8, 2016 in US to talk to the buyers in order to increase export. The Decision was taken at a meeting in the commerce ministry last week.
SENA is a leading trade event for seafood buyers in every market category including retail, restaurant, catering, food service and processing.
“Bangladesh Frozen Foods Exporters Association (BFFEA) and the government jointly took the initiative to brand “Black Tiger” to regain its lost market,” Md Golam Mostafa, senior vice-president of BFFEA, told the Dhaka Tribune.
Due to its lower price, the demand for vannamei shrimp has increased in the US market while that for black tigers dropped despite its succulent taste and quality.
“That is why our focus of discussion would be on branding “Black Tiger” and better price,” said Mostafa.
“We will hold talks on what importers and we can offer each other,” adedd Mostafa.
In the expo, there will have a stall for Bangladesh exporters, where shrimps would be on display to attract retailers.
We will hold meeting with the National Fisheries Institute (NFI), the largest organisation dealing with the shrimps export, to devise ways to increase export to American market.
“Since the export of shrimps to the US market has seen downward trend, we will visit US in March to increase export,” Hedayetullah Al Mamoon told the Dhaka Tribune.
There are lots of demands for Bangladeshi Shrimps named “Black Tiger” and that is why we focused on the sector as it is premium products with higher prices, Mamun continued.
According to the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) data, in the last fiscal year, Bangladesh earned $35.26 million from US by exporting shrimps, which was 28.40% less compared to $49.25 million of FY2013-14.
The overall shrimp export declined by 7.35% to $509.725 million which was $550.16 in FY2013-14.
Fisheries and Livestock Secretary Md Maksudul Hasan Khan, Syed Arif Azad, director general of Department of Fisheries, and BFFEA President SM Amzad Hossain and exporters will join the delegation.
