“Aquaculture witnessing green shoots of recovery”

“After a challenging fiscal 2019 that saw a contraction in demand and the attendant impact on prices and overall shrimp production in India, the past fiscal, that is, fiscal 2020 started on a positive note with the Aquaculture industry seeing green shoots of recovery in the form of improving demand and stabilising international prices of shrimp. Primary producers too, seeing this stability, regained confidence and ensured consistent supply of shrimp almost throughout the year. The COVID-19 pandemic, which saw global economic activity being impacted, however, put the brakes on this recovery. The Indian Aquaculture Sector, which is mostly export focused, faced challenges on account of lockdown restrictions imposed by its customer countries a few weeks ahead of India, where the lockdown began on March 25, 2020, resulting in logistical difficulties both domestically as well as internationally.”

“Over the past 2-3 years, we have made strategic choices like utilising equity for expansion, maintaining a strong balance sheet and focus on cost rationalisation. Further, with our Ready-to-eat products complementing our Ready-to-cook range of products, we believe that we are well positioned to navigate these challenging times. The two new hatcheries that were added in the fiscal 2019 are operating well and the output – shrimp seed, has been well received by our shrimp farmers’ network. The path to becoming a fully integrated player is now complete with the company being present in most parts of the supply chain.”