Apex Foods, another shrimp exporter, has been exporting for about 42 years. In the first half of the current financial year, they have exported frozen shrimp worth Rs 250 crore to several countries including United Kingdom, Canada, United States and Russia. This is about Rs 102 crore more than the same period of the previous fiscal year 2020-21.
Exports from Gemini Sea Foods and Apex Foods show that Bangladesh's frozen shrimp exports have returned to normal after several years. In the first seven months of the current 2021-22 fiscal year , frozen shrimp exports amounted to 29.49 billion, which is about Tk. This is 40 percent more than the same period last year. In the first six months of the previous fiscal year 2020-21, the export of frozen shrimp was 21 crore dollars or 1 thousand 606 crore taka.
After a long time, the export of frozen shrimps has returned to normal, but the exporters are not willing to give a damn about it. They claim that the demand for shrimp has increased in the United States and the European Union (EU) as the coronavirus situation has become somewhat normal. Competing countries are again leaning towards high yielding species of Venami shrimp. For that, the price of bagged shrimp is a bit higher than before. On the other hand, the export income of frozen shrimp has increased due to four to five times increase in the fare of cargo containers at destination. In fact, exports have not increased.
In this century, the country exported a maximum of 550 million worth of shrimp in the 2013-14 financial year. Then for seven consecutive years the export of the product decreased. In the last fiscal year 2020-21, shrimp exports amounted to 330 million, which is Tk 2,636 crore in local currency. This income is 1.15 percent less than the previous year.
However, compared to the global market for shrimp, Bangladesh's exports are negligible. According to reports from various international research institutes, the global shrimp market in 2019 was worth হাজার 3.17 billion, which is Rs 2.61 trillion in Bangladeshi currency. In 2028, this market will increase to 5 thousand 460 million dollars. A statistic can be given to understand how big the market will be. That is, in the last fiscal year 2020-21, the total export of goods in Bangladesh was 3,085 million dollars.
When asked, Kazi Belayet Hossain, former president of the Frozen Food Exporters Association , told Prothom Alok : Currently, only 7% of the world's shrimp exports are of Venami variety. But it is not in our export. Despite the potential for that, Bangladesh is losing the shrimp export market. He said if Venami shrimp farming is started commercially, the people of the country will be able to buy and eat it at the rate of Tk 200-300 per kg.
At present shrimp farming is practiced in Khulna, Bagerhat, Satkhira, Patuakhali, Barguna, Chittagong, Cox's Bazar, Noakhali and Mymensingh. There are 105 shrimp processing factories for export. Of these, 6 were approved by the EU. 105 factories have the capacity to process 4 lakh metric tons of shrimp annually. In contrast, shrimp production is less than three and a quarter million tons. Due to non-availability of raw material as per demand, 40 factories are in operation at present. Of these, 25-30 factories produce regularly. They are also not able to run production at full capacity.
According to the Department of Fisheries, the country produced 2 lakh 80 thousand 14 metric tons of shrimp in the last fiscal year 2019-20. Its previous year production was 2 lakh 56 thousand 39 metric tons. In those two years, the shrimp production per hectare was 996 kg and 1,046 kg respectively.
Shrimp exporters say that the traditional method produces an average of 250-300 kg of lobster and bagged shrimp per hectare. When cultivated in semi-incentive or semi-intensive method, it weighs up to 3-4 thousand kg. And if Venami of high yielding variety is produced, the average production is 9-10 thousand kg.
According to the World Food Organization and the Global Aquaculture Alliance, in 2017, the world produced 47.40 million metric tons of shrimp. Among them, Venami shrimp was 7.51 percent or 3.5 million metric tons. Bagda and lobster production was 5 lakh and 240 thousand metric tons respectively.
In the Asian region, China, India and Vietnam are dominant in Venami shrimp farming. In 2019, 11 lakh 44 thousand metric tons of Venami shrimp were produced in China, 6 lakh 24 thousand in India, 5 lakh 6 thousand in Vietnam and 260 thousand metric tons in Thailand. Besides, 2 lakh 20 thousand metric tons of shrimp is produced in Indonesia and 1 lakh 75 thousand metric tons in Malaysia.
Exporters have been negotiating with the government for a long time seeking permission to cultivate Venami shrimp in Bangladesh. However, the Department of Fisheries did not give any encouragement or permission to cultivate Venami on the grounds that it could have an adverse effect on the environment. Finally, in September 2019, the government experimentally allowed the shrimp farming. Despite the approval of two companies, only MUC Foods of Jessore cultivates. The company could not start the cultivation in time as it could not import pona from abroad due to corona. Farming started last year after the fry were imported from Thailand. That cultivation was eventually successful.
This year, besides MUC Foods, Khulna-based Grotech Aquaculture and Fahim Sea Foods have been given experimental approval by the Department of Fisheries to cultivate Venami Shrimp. Apart from this, approval is being given to 16 companies in Cox's Bazar, Khulna and Satkhira for experimental cultivation.
Exporters say that Venami shrimp farming using semi-intensive methods is very expensive. Traders will be interested if commercial approval is given instead of experimental cultivation. Otherwise the whole thing could hang. Apart from that, it is also necessary to take initiative for commercial production of Venami fry.
MUC Foods of Jessore, which has been doing this business for three and a half decades, has successfully experimented with Venami shrimp farming. The company last exported frozen shrimp worth Tk 6 crore in the fiscal year 2020-21. In the previous year, their exports amounted to Tk 69 crore. Their factory has the capacity to process 12 tons of shrimp per day. For this 30-40 lakh kg of shrimp is required annually. But due to the raw material crisis, they are only able to process 1 million kg of shrimp.
Confirming the matter, MUC Foods Managing Director (MD) Shyamal Das said the global supply chain had collapsed during the Corona period. The prices of all kinds of food products are increasing. Due to this, the price of shrimp has increased by 25-30 percent. Apart from that, the ship fare for export to Europe and America has increased 4-5 times. As a result, the export income has increased slightly in the current financial year. However, exports have been steadily declining in the last few years.
Shyamal Das added that 90 per cent of the current amount of shrimp exported by India is Venami. Now they want to increase Bagdar cultivation to increase exports. This is because the importers buy a few bags and lobsters with Venami to meet the demand of the buyers. If we can go to Venami with Baghdad, the export earnings in this sector can be increased to US ২০০ 200 million in five years.
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