Visakhapatnam: Citing the new US tariff effective from Friday, shrimp exporters from Andhra Pradesh made a sharp cut of `40 on every kg of the produce they procured from aqua farmers.Uncertainty prevailed in the market over the impact of reciprocal tariff imposed by the US on exports from India with immediate effect. Shrimp farmers welfare association secretary V.S. Raju said while Rs 270 was standard price for 100 count of shrimps, the exporters would now pay only Rs 230, saying the farmers should shoulder a part of the US-imposed burden. Farmers in the state harvest four lakh tonnes of shrimps worth Rs 30,000 crore every year. The state contributes 43 per cent of the revenue generated by India from shrimp exports. Raju told Deccan Chronicle that it was unfair to put the tariff burden on the farmers. Out of the 25 per cent hike, the importer paid 10 per cent while the central government offered some subsidy to the exporters. “Uncertainty prevails in the shrimp export sector,’’ said Seafood Exporters Association of India (SEAI) president Pavan Kumar. He said 1,500 containers were sailing to the US from the Indian shores at present. “It is not clear whether these too would face the new levy. Each container carries 18 tonnes of shrimp. We hope to have some relief after the central government holds trade talks with their US counterparts in August.’’ Kumar said that in the last fiscal, India exported $7.4 billion worth seafood including the shrimp grown in the farms, of which AP’s share was $2.5 billion. Kumar says it is too early to see changes in the retail market
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