Compositional analysis of live fish import trade in India

Abstract

The live fish import trade in India under the harmonised system (HS) code 0301 (HS-0301) increased exponentially in terms of import quantity and value during the period 2000-2019. India imported 1.32 t of live fish worth US $ 0.017 million in 2000, which increased to 653.27 t worth US $ 3.21 million in 2019. The import of both marine as well as freshwater ornamental fish was found to increase during the period 2013-2019. The major countries exporting marine and freshwater ornamental fish to India were Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Sri Lanka. The import of live trout and carp to India was found to be very less during the period 2000-2019. The majority of live fish import to India accounted in the subclass HS030199 since 2017, with 81.55, 91.86 and 74.03% of total live fish imported to India in 2017, 2018 and 2019, respectively. Bangladesh accounted 81.02, 87.84 and 83.11% of total import quantity and 0.74, 82.42 and 49.51% of total import value under the sub-head HS-030199 during 2017, 2018 and 2019, respectively. While import of live fish offers economic opportunities, it has the potential to bring biosecurity threats including fish pathogens to Indian waters. The economic trade-off is to be evaluated on a case to case basis supported with legal and institutional back-up. Enacting a comprehensive legal framework and creating quarantine facilities are critical in this direction. Keywords: Compositional analysis, HS-0301, Import, Ornamental fish, Trade balance IntroductionThe live fish trade in India has undergone considerable growth and diversification both in terms of import and export. India imported 1.32 t of live fish worth US $ 0.018 million in the year 2000, which increased to 653 t of live fish worth US $ 3.21 million in the year 2019. This has accounted almost 493 and 177% growth over the decades in import quantity and value, respectively. Whereas, India exported almost 1844 t of live fish worth US$ 8.77 million in 2000 and over a period of two decades, the live fish export trade has grown to 7287 t in volume, worth US $ 46.63 million in 2019 (https://mpeda.gov.in/MPEDA/marine_products_exports.php#). The live fish export trade of India had grown almost linearly during this period of time. Prathvi et al. (2013) analysed the export performance of ornamental fish from India and pointed out that export trade registered a compound growth rate of 12.10, 14.40 and 2.10% in terms of export quantity, value and unit value, respectively. Both import and export trade improved the internal live fish trade in India.According to Ayyappan et al. (2006), ornamental fish breeding and farming in India has emerged as one of the lucrative entrepreneurships from a mere hobby. To add to this, Marine Product Export Development Authority (MPEDA) has estimated that the internal trade of ornamental fish to be US $ 3.26 million (https://mpeda.gov.in/) by 2025. With this, India contributes 1% of total ornamental fish trade in the world. This indicates high demand for domestic rearing of fresh and marine water ornamental fish. Outlining the present status and future trend of ornamental fish sector in India, Karthik et al.(2019) concluded that there is tremendous scope for India to be one of the leaders in world ornamental fish trade. The major states involved in ornamental fish farming are West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala; and cities like Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai are the major ornamental fish exporting points in India contributing almost 90, 8 and 2% of total export, respectively. The ornamental fish trade provides livelihood security to the farmers and sustainable developments to the nation. Similarly, Sinsari and Priono (2019) pointed out that there is scope for high level of profit for marine ornamental fish industry in other developing countries like Indonesia.Apart from the internal and export trade, India also import live fish in the form of fresh and marine water ornamental fishes, carps and trout to meet the demand in the domestic market under the harmonised system (HS) code 0301 (HS-0301) and its sub-codes. Other than the import of live ornamental fishes, the Indian market finds place for importing live fishes under the sub-head HS-030199. But, there have been only a few studies which analysed the import scenario of live fish under the head HS-0301 to India. The present paper analysed the trend and composition of live fish import to India at a disaggregated level (within sub-classes of HS-0301) and C. G. JOSHY, A. SURESH, S. K. PANDA AND C. N. RAVISHANKARICAR-Central Institute of Fisheries Technology, Matsyapuri P.O., Willingdon Island, Kochi - 682 029, Kerala, Indiae-mail: cgjoshy@gmail.com