The country’s shrimp export has suffered a nearly 19% fall in the first seven months of the current fiscal year, said the latest Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) data.
The data showed in July-January period of the fiscal year 2015-16, Bangladesh bagged $291m from shrimp export, a figure which is 18.98% less than $359m a year ago.
Fall in supply by shrimp producers, economic recession and fluctuation of exchange rate in destination countries, especially in the Euro zone, have been blamed for the drop in shrimp export earning.
“Bangladeshi farmers produce only 300 kg of ‘black tiger’ shrimp in one hectare of land, while our competitor countries are producing 2,000 kg of shrimp in the same amount of land,” said Md Golam Mostafa, senior vice-president of Frozen Foods Exporters Association (BFFEA), describing the poor supply situation. “This has contributed to the fall (of export).”
He also found devaluation of Euro against US dollar as another cause of drop in earning. The EU is the largest export destination for Bangladeshi shrimp.
Golam Mostafa said if Bangladesh wanted to remain competitive in the global market and to push up the shrimp export to $1bn, focus should be given on intensive method of cultivation rather than traditional one.
He also stressed: “The government should take initiative to increase production of ‘black tiger’ shrimp which has a huge demand in our destination countries.”
The sector people said they were also facing problems in having access to funds to collect shrimp from cultivators.
Besides, the low cost Vannamei shrimp production in competitor countries is another threat for Bangladesh as they offer lower prices.
BFFEA vice-president said the government needs to come up with policy and financial supports to help farmers start intensive cultivation so production can be increased.
There has already a government plan to increase shrimp production through intensive cultivation method in which land will be divided into clusters, and by introducing semi-intensive cultivation method in a larger scale.
The government has also taken an initiative to brand Bangladeshi “black tiger” shrimp in the global market, especially in the US market. The decision was made at a commerce ministry meeting last week.
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 in the US.
The delegation will talk to the buyers so more Bangladeshi shrimp can be exported to the market.
According to the commerce ministry data, in the last fiscal year, Bangladesh produced 223,788 tonnes of shrimp, 3.47% down from 231,842 tonnes in the FY2012-13.
Meanwhile, in the FY2014-15, Bangladesh exported 44,278 tonnes of shrimp, falling over 7% from 47,635 tonnes in the previous year.
In the last fiscal year, the export earnings from the shrimp sector also slumped by 7.36% to $510m, which was $550m in the previous year.
