China lifts good volume; keeps coir, seafood exports floating

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For the Indian seafood and coir industry, China is the knight in the shining armour. When the traditional markets for Indian seafood and coir -- the US, Europe and Japan -- failed due to the economic slowdown, China came to the rescue and lifted substantial volumes from India, helping export realisation and in averting a price crash in the domestic market due to oversupply.Coir exports from India in the previous financial year ended March 31, 2010, exceeded the target of Rs 700 crore by 10% and the performance in 2008-09 by almost 25% thanks to exports to China, which was consuming increasing volumes of coir fibre and curled coir.When the market for traditional products like coir carpet, rug and mats tumbled because of poor consumption of the US and European consumers, Chinese manufactures came to the rescue. The undoing of the Indian coir industry in the past has been its over dependence on US and European buyers.According to Coir Board estimates, the US is the single largest market for Indian coir, accounting for more than 37% of the total exports. The European countries together account for more than 41%, with the remaining 22% are shared by a clutch of other countries.Interestingly, coir fibre exports, which were non-existent in the past, accounted for 12% of the total exports in value terms during the previous financial year and almost 25% of the total volume of exports.In the seafood sector as well, Chinese consumption of Indian seafood helped to ward off the threat from various regulatory and tariff barriers which shrunk India's exports to the EU and the US.Exports of common fish like Ribbon fish, Crocker, and Leatherjacket increased while the share of black tiger shrimp slipped. Exports to China increased during the year and now account for 15 % (in dollar terms for 2008-09) followed by the United States' 12%.China climbed to the second place from the third position it held in 2007-08, relegating Japan to the third position.Booming exports to China is also a cause for concern as there is some fundamental difference in the Chinese consumption pattern as compared to the developed markets like the US and Europe, Anwar Hashim, national president of Seafood Exporters Association of India (SEAI) told FE. Most products that China imports from India are not consumed by the Chinese, but processed and re-exported to other places, he said."While the US and European markets prefer exotic items like shrimp, squid and cuttle fish, Chinese buy large volumes of fish which are common or low value," he said.More than a third of the six-lakh-tonne fish products exported from India goes to China; he said and added that earnings do not match correspondingly.Similarly, in coir, China consumes raw materials and exports finished mattress to Australia, KC Eapen, secretary of the Coir Shippers Council, said. "It was the fancy of the US buyers who changed their carpets and rugs frequently that kept us going. Other markets are conservative in their approaches, and value realisation in those places is lower," he added.

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