India’s seafood exporters have appealed for a waiver of 30 per cent customs duty imposed on shrimp imports from the US fearing a reciprocal tariff from India’s biggest seafood market.
The request was reportedly submitted by the stakeholders in the industry during a meeting with the Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal while he was in Kochi to attend the Invest Kerala Global Summit 2025.
Although the US is the largest export market for Indian shrimps with a share of 34 per cent out of the total seafood export turnover, the value of shrimp imported into the country including from the US is negligible, according to industry sources.
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The withdrawal of the current customs duty of 30 per cent on the US shrimps will not affect the local industry. But they expressed concerns that persisting with the duty may force the US to retaliate and impose reciprocal tariff on Indian shrimp exports which could deal the industry a heavy blow. As the US is the biggest market for Indian shrimps, such a move for high tariff will undermine India’s position in the global seafood market and lead to sheer business loss, the sources said.
It is pointed out that discussions are currently going on the imposition of CounterVailing Duty at 5.77 per cent by the US Department of Commerce on all shrimps exported to the US. The US has initiated an investigation for levy of anti-dumping duty.
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India has in place a tariff rate of 30 per cent for import of shrimps. As per the statistics provided by the Department of Commerce, the total quantity of imports from the US in 2024-25 till November was $3.16 million, while exports during the same period were $1319.68 million. In the previous fiscal, it was $2.91 million and $1809 million respectively.
Seafood exporters also cited the difficulties faced due to state biodiversity boards initiating action against units citing seafood as a biological resource and demanding payment of access and benefit sharing charges. The sector sought the support of the Minister for including seafood under list of items that can be excluded from the purview of Biological Diversity Act of 2002.
