New Delhi, Aug 17 (IANS): The economic turbulence induced by the Covid-19 pandemic marginally pulled down India's seafood exports during 2019-20.

As per data furnished by Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA), India managed to ship out 12,89,651 MT of seafood worth $6.68 billion (Rs 46,662.85 crore) during 2019-20, largely cushioning the adverse impact of the pandemic.

In 2018-19, India had exported 13,92,559 MT of seafood worth $6.72 billion.

"During the FY 2019-20, the export improved in rupee term by 0.16 per cent, but the quantity and US dollar value declined by 7.39 per cent and 0 .74 per cent, respectively," MPEDA said in a statement.

"Frozen shrimp remained the major export item in terms of quantity and value followed by frozen fish while USA and China turned out to be the major importers of India's seafood."

The frozen shrimp category earned Rs 34,152.03 crore ($4,889.12 million) and accounted for a share of 50.58 per cent in quantity and 73.21 per cent of the total dollar earnings.

The shrimp category exports during the period increased by 6.04 per cent in dollar value and 6.20 per cent in quantity.

According to K.S. Srinivas, Chairman, MPEDA: "We missed the 7-billion-dollar target, though not by a fair distance. However, exports are now likely to witness an uptick as lockdowns have been eased globally and there is an increased sale of value-added products in retail chains."

"MPEDA's vision is to take Indian seafood exports to Rs one l akh crore by 2030," he noted.