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Amit Mitra

VISAKHAPATNAM, Sept. 23

THE country has to improve its image with regard to seafood exports. With the focus now shifting from Japan to the US market, a sustained campaign in the US to enhance the brand equity of Indian marine products is imperative, said Mr Robert S. Hooey, Executive Vice-President of the $350-million Seattle-based Aqua Star, the largest importer of Indian seafood in the US.

Recalling his experience during one of his flights to India, Mr Hooey said,

``Until a few years ago, Indian seafood products were treated almost on par with those from Bangladesh, fetching poor price realisation, in the US market. But I must say, things have improved and today Indian products are second only to those from Thailand, the gap in price realisations between the two thinning.''

In fact, with many US importers turning their focus on Indian seafood products, especially black tiger shrimps and scampi (giant freshwater shrimps), moves are afoot to launch a joint campaign in the US market to enhance the brand equity of the Indian products.

Aqua Star, which has picked up almost 75 per cent of Indian seafood exported to the US, plans to double its offtake from the present level of 25 million pounds in the next two years. Two or three other major US importers have also shown interest in shifting focus to India for sourcing marine products.

``One proposal that Aqua Star, which supplies packed seafood products to a chain of superstores in the US, is toying with is to campaign for an exclusive shelf place for Indian marine products in the superstores, which could significantly enhance their image. This is important, because US consumers are choosy about the origin of shrimps they are purchasing,'' said Mr Hooey.

Another factor that the industry is focussing on is increased value-addition, which has gone well in the US market in terms of increasing brand equity. Mr T. Raghunath Reddy, President of the Association of Indian Fishery Industries (AIFI) said, ``More and more factories are installing IQF (individually quick-frozen) facilities for value-addition. Last year, there were hardly 13 such factories, but today more than 20 factories are producing value-added IQF and deep-cut shrimps.''

The industry, however, is aware that this constitutes only low-end value addition and what would significantly help Indian seafood products gain a stronger hold in the US market is high-end value addition.

Industry observers say that these efforts should be backed by road shows in the US, as part of the joint campaign by the industry and the US importers. The campaign should especially focus on new products as tuna and scampi. ``I see a great potential for Indian scampi in the US market. We have recognised the potential and already India is the biggest exporter of scampi in the US, about 11,000 tonnes valued at Rs 750 crore, last year,'' Mr Hooey pointed out.

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