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While state fishermen associations have expressed fears they might should drop the anchor of their boats as a consequence of lack of payment from merchants, seafood exporters have identified that additional checks put in place by China, the most important importer of Indian seafood, in view of the Covid-19 pandemic, has stretched the payment cycle and led to a money crunch out there.
On Friday, leaders and representatives from 16 main fishing harbours in Gujarat and Union Territory of Diu and state seafood merchants and exporters held a gathering at Veraval and appealed to the Central authorities to intervene at diplomatic ranges to steer China to calm down Covid-19 protocols for Indian seafood shipments, restore the enterprise cycle and clear round Rs 200 crore as a consequence of exporters in direction of Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS).
The scheme, launched via the Foreign Trade Policy (FTP), was launched by the Government of India to spice up the export of notified items which might be produced or manufactured within the nation.
Velji Masani, president of Akhil Bharatiya Fishermen Association, an organisation working for fishermen, stated fishing boat house owners have been operating out of money and unable to buy diesel, ice and ration or clear salaries of fishermen since they haven’t been paid by merchants and exporters for the final two to a few months.
“A fishing trip of 15 to 20 days requires a boat owner to purchase inputs worth Rs 3.5-4 lakh. Many of them have run out of their working capital and savings now. As a result, around 25 per cent of the 25,000 fishing boats in the state have already dropped anchors for indefinite period,” Masani stated.
This, he added, comes on the again of a disrupted season. “The previous fishing season was marred by three cyclonic storms and early closure due to lockdown post the outbreak of novel coronavirus in March. The government has announced that fishermen holding Kisan Credit Cards would get Rs 2 lakh bank loans. But actually, banks are not giving more than Rs 30,000 to Rs 40,000 as loan. Fishermen have run out of cash and if fish traders and exporters don’t clear their dues, which are around Rs 700 crore, a majority of Gujarat fishermen may have to suspend fishing altogether,” Masani stated. He additionally represents the state on the National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB) of the Central authorities.
Exporters, in the meantime, say they have been going via a “liquidity crunch” as Chinese importers have delayed funds.
“Almost 65 per cent of seafood exports, especially fresh fish, from Gujarat goes to China. In normal times, Chinese exporters release payment within 21 days. But checking and scanning of seafood containers have increased at Chinese ports. The government there is detaining containers for up to 20 days as a measure against Covid-19. Therefore, it is taking more than 60 days to get payment from Chinese importers. We have also exhausted our capacity to borrow from banks to pay to fishermen. Hence, there is a liquidity crunch in the market and we are unable to pay to fishermen,” Jagdish Fofandi, president of Seafood Exporters Association of India (SEAI) advised The Indian Express on Sunday.
Fofandi stated India exports Rs 7,000 crore price seafood yearly with China being the biggest vacation spot for Indian shipments.
Gujarat, he added, ships round 70,000 metric tonnes seafood price Rs 2,200 crore to China. “This year, however, there is a dip of around 35 per cent as compared to three years ago,” Fofandi stated.
He stated if the Centre releases round Rs 200 crore MEIS dues to exporters, it may ease liquidity crunch to some extent. “Payments for shipments to China made in September have not been cleared till date. The only positive is that the European market has remained stable. Therefore, we are requesting fishermen to focus on the catch of shrimps, cuttlefish, and squids which are converted into value-added products and exported to EU,” Fofandi stated.
China primarily imports ribbonfish, croaker, cuttlefish, pomfret amongst others from India.
“It will help if the Central government intervenes and persuades China to relax its Covid-related protocols for seafood shipments and the turnaround time is reduced,” the SEAI president added.
Some fishermen leaders, nevertheless, accuse merchants and exporters of manipulating the scenario. “In the name of Covid-19, exporters are delaying payment to us while diverting the money to purchase fish from others at lower rates by making instant cash payments,” a fishermen chief of Gujarat, who had attended the Friday’s assembly, stated.
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