Export Competitiveness and Value Chain Analysis of Seafood Products

Gujarat is the northern most maritime state on the west coast of India endows a long coastline extending to 1600 km accounts for 19.70 per cent of the total coastline of the country. It has the total production of 8.12 lakh MT in 2017-18 of which 88 per cent was marine fish while remaining 12 per cent was inland fish production. Value chain management can reduce various cost associated at each stage of value addition and can improve the productivity and profitability of the product. Therefore, Value chain analysis of seafood had been studied in the four districts of Gujarat to map the flow and processes, cost and return structure of different actors and export competitiveness in the chain. The findings of the study may help in motivating fisher for use of the most efficient value chain. Actors involved in the chain like fisher, auctioneer, wholesaler, commission agents, processors and retailer were interviewed. A total of 120 fishers and 40 input suppliers, 50 market intermediaries and 30 consumers were selected for the study from four major harbours/landing centers of the four districts in the state which made the total sample size of 240.