Andhra Pradesh is confident of increasing seafood exports

By Santosh Patnaik Vijayawada : The impact of COVID-19 pandemic notwithstanding, Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA), is confident of increasing seafood exports from India, mainly Andhra Pradesh.
MPEDA an autonomous body under the Ministry of Commerce and Industries. Andhra Pradesh is considered an important hub due to its vast seacoast, the second largest after Gujarat.
With vannamei (white-leg shrimp), a exotic species developed by aqua farmers becoming highly popular in the export market due to its low price and culinary taste, MPEDA, which is mandated by the Government of India to promote exports, is focusing on increasing aquafarms in AP, which has a lion’s share of India’s vannamei cultivation.  India produced 7, 47,111 MT of shrimps last year, of which over 68% had come from AP’s over 52,000 shrimp farms covering a water spread of 75,000 hectares.
Visakhapatnam Port is a big centre for export of seafood through reefer containers. It has a world-class container terminal under PPP mode developed by Visakha Container Terminal Private Ltd (VCTPL), a joint venture of J.M Baxi Group and Dubai Ports (DP) World.