Total exports of fish and fish preparations stood at $34.4 million in the quarter under review as against $45.4 million the same period of 2006, showing a sharp fall of 24 per cent.
The government had set a provisional overall fish export target including exports to EU countries at $230 million for 2007-2008 but it seems that the target will not be achieved as Pakistan has already lost the EU market. The country fetched $188 million export during 2006-2007 including exports to European countries.
A fish exporter told Dawn that the landing of shrimps had been 60 per cent higher this year over the last year but exporters had to sacrifice on the prices by sending the shrimps to various destinations other than the EU states at low prices.
A meeting to review the crisis faced by the fish exporters due to the EU ban, with Secretary Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock (Minfal) Ziaur Rahman in the chair, was held in Islamabad and attended by Minfal officials and MNA Akhlaq Hussain Abidi, an executive committee member of Pakistan Seafood Industries Association (PSIA).
Fish exports plunge 24pc in July-Sept
PAKISTAN - The country fetched an average price of $1.45 per kg on fish exports in the first quarter (July-September) of this fiscal year as against $1.73 per kg in the same period last year as exporters had to sell their shipments at low prices to other countries after the European Union banned seafood imports from Pakistan from April 12 this year.
