Sri Lanka’s seafood exporters target US$ 200 million earnings from king prawn exports by 2020
An official from the Seafood Exporters’ Association of Sri Lanka has reportedly said that seafood exporters in the country are targeting US$ 200 million in sales from newly farmed king prawns within three years.
“We are hoping to get 200 million US dollars from vannamei (king prawn) exports by 2022,” Dilan Fernando, President of the Seafood Exporters’ Association of Sri Lanka (SEASL) has been quoted as saying in the local media.
Sri Lanka’s estimated shrimp exports for 2019 were US$ 20 million, a small fraction of the US$ 250 million (provisional) in total seafood exports.
According to reports, most of Sri Lanka’s seafood export revenue is derived from tuna exports to the European Union.
The vannamei high-yield prawn variety, also known as pacific white or whiteleg shrimp, was introduced to Sri Lanka in 2018, whereas other countries had adopted the variety in the 1990s, local media reports state.
“We started farming vannamei only in 2018 and we were the only country which was exclusively farming black tiger prawns, whereas other countries shifted to vannamei long time back,” Fernando has said.
Sri Lanka in 2019 had produced 5,000 metric tonnes of vannamei, of which 2,000 metric tonnes were exported, generating an estimated US$ 5 million.
“We are targeting 50,000 metric tonnes of vannamei production in three years and after reaching 10,000 metric tons, we will export 100 percent,” Fernando has noted.
He has added that SEASL is targeting US$ 50 million in export revenue from king prawns for 2020, and double annually in 2021 and 2022.
OSL take:
Sri Lanka’s overall exports sector has been recording a continuous growth in the past few months. It is in this background that seafood exporters are looking at increasing their exports within the next few years. The many trade agreements as well as trade concessions enjoyed by the country have helped boost Sri Lanka’s exports sector. Given the incentives and other facilities enjoyed by Sri Lanka’s exports sector, foreign businesses/investors could explore business/investment opportunities in the country’s exports sector.
| Article Code : | VBS/AT/20200108/Z_3 |