India’s seafood record is really a story of survival

#049 As US demand weakened, India’s seafood exporters found new buyers across Asia and Europe — reducing dependence on a single market while delivering a record year.

India’s seafood industry has just pulled off something that looked unlikely a year ago.

Despite rising tariff uncertainty in its biggest export market, slowing global demand and growing competition from countries like Ecuador and Indonesia, India exported a record 19.72 lakh metric tonnes of seafood worth ₹73,890 crore ($8.46 billion) during FY26. It is the highest annual seafood export the country has ever recorded, both by quantity and by value.

See… a record export number usually means things are going right. But this one came after a difficult reset. The bigger story here is about how one of India’s largest agricultural export industries quietly reinvented itself when one of its biggest customers started buying less.

That customer is the United States. For years, America has been the backbone of India’s seafood exports, especially shrimp. Indian seafood processors built factories around American demand, farmers expanded shrimp cultivation because US buyers paid premium prices, and exporters became heavily dependent on a single market.

In many years, the US accounted for nearly 40-50% of India’s shrimp exports. That dependence worked well until trade policies began changing. Tariff uncertainty, anti-dumping duties and other trade restrictions made Indian shrimp less competitive in the American market, forcing exporters to rethink a business model that had remained largely unchanged for years.

The numbers from FY26 show this shift.

India exported 2.79 lakh tonnes of seafood to the US worth ₹20,263 crore, making America the country’s largest seafood buyer in value terms. But exports to the US fell 19.5% in volume, 14.2% in dollar value and 10.8% in rupee value compared to the previous year. For an industry where the US had long been the most reliable customer, such a decline could have easily translated into a difficult year for exporters. Instead, India ended up setting a new export record.

The reason is simple. Exporters did not wait for the US market to recover. They went looking for new buyers.

China emerged as India’s largest seafood destination by quantity, importing 4.90 lakh tonnes of seafood during FY26. Exports also increased to markets such as Vietnam, Belgium and Japan.

According to Mint, shrimp exports to Vietnam jumped 50%, while exports to Belgium surged 69% over the previous year. China and Japan also absorbed a larger share of Indian shipments. This diversification helped offset weaker demand from the US and reduced India’s dependence on a single export market.

In fact, the US now accounts for roughly 33% of India’s shrimp exports, down from the 38% to 49% range seen over much of the past decade.

Interestingly, Vietnam and Belgium are not necessarily consuming all the shrimp they import from India. Both countries are major seafood processing and distribution hubs. Shrimp arriving there is often processed further or routed into wider European and global supply chains before reaching consumers.

In other words, India has not just found new customers. It has also become part of more diversified international trade networks, reducing the risk that comes from relying too heavily on one country.

The biggest reason this industry matters is because it is far more concentrated than most people realise. Seafood exports are not driven equally by dozens of products. They are overwhelmingly driven by shrimp.

During FY26, India exported 7.93 lakh tonnes of frozen shrimp worth ₹49,038 crore. That single product accounted for 40.2% of the country’s seafood export volume but contributed an even larger 66.5% of total export earnings in dollar terms.

Put simply, every ₹100 India earned from seafood exports included nearly ₹67 coming from shrimp alone. That makes shrimp not just another export commodity, but the financial engine of India’s marine exports.

The dominance of shrimp becomes even clearer when compared with other seafood categories. Frozen fish generated exports worth ₹5,658 crore, almost one-ninth of shrimp exports. Dried seafood products earned ₹5,079 crore, although this segment registered an impressive 78% growth in rupee terms during the year.

Frozen squid exports touched ₹4,494 crore, while chilled seafood contributed ₹622 crore. These products are growing steadily, but none currently come close to matching shrimp’s contribution to India’s export basket.

Behind these export numbers lies a massive domestic industry. Andhra Pradesh has emerged as the centre of India’s shrimp economy, contributing roughly two-thirds of the country’s shrimp exports.

Thousands of aquaculture farms across the state’s coastal districts produce species such as Litopenaeus vannamei, commonly known as Vannamei shrimp, which has become the preferred variety because it grows quickly, survives better under farming conditions and offers higher yields. Over the past decade, improvements in hatcheries, feed quality and farming practices have helped India become one of the world’s largest shrimp exporters.

However, producing shrimp is no longer enough. The next challenge is proving that it has been produced safely.

Importing countries, especially in Europe and North America, are placing greater emphasis on food safety, traceability and sustainability. Buyers increasingly want to know where seafood was farmed, how it was processed, whether antibiotics were used responsibly and whether environmental standards were followed.

A single shipment failing residue tests can result in stricter inspections for future consignments, delays at ports and damage to the reputation of an entire exporting region. In global seafood trade, quality assurance has become just as important as production.

Recognising this shift, India has been strengthening its seafood certification and traceability systems. The government and the Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) are working towards digital traceability frameworks that can track seafood from farm to export.

While these systems help exporters meet international regulations, they also improve buyer confidence and make Indian seafood more competitive against rival suppliers such as Ecuador, Indonesia and Vietnam. In the coming years, technology may become as important to seafood exports as fishing boats or aquaculture ponds.

Tariffs have also changed how exporters think about risk. For decades, success meant selling as much shrimp as possible to the United States because it offered stable demand and attractive prices. The events of the past year have shown why depending too heavily on one market can become dangerous. Diversifying across multiple countries may not always deliver the highest margins, but it creates resilience. If one market slows because of tariffs, regulations or changing consumer demand, exporters have alternatives.

This becomes especially relevant as India and the US continue discussions on a broader bilateral trade agreement. A more predictable tariff framework could improve competitiveness for Indian seafood exporters in the American market. At the same time, few exporters are likely to return to the old strategy of depending overwhelmingly on a single buyer. The experience of FY26 has shown that expanding into multiple markets provides greater long-term stability than relying on one destination, however large it may be.

The government’s ambition now stretches well beyond this year’s record. India has set a target of increasing seafood exports to $30 billion over the next few years, more than three times the current level. Achieving that goal will require more than producing additional shrimp. It will demand higher-value processed products, stronger cold-chain infrastructure, better branding, faster compliance with international food safety standards and continued expansion into new markets.

India’s record seafood exports therefore represent much more than a successful financial year. They show how an industry built around one product and one dominant customer managed to adapt when global trade conditions changed.

Shrimp may still be carrying India’s seafood exports on its back, but the industry’s future will depend on something much bigger than shrimp alone. It will depend on how quickly India can build a more diversified, technology-driven and globally trusted seafood supply chain, one that can withstand tariffs, changing regulations and shifting demand without losing momentum.

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