Avanti Feeds, Waterbase, Apex Frozen Foods jump after budget announces support for shrimp farming

Shares of shrimp feed manufacturers jump

Market experts believe that the government’s mission of encouraging shrimp production will help in aligning production to emerging changes in the consumption of fresh produce.

The US, China, and Japan consume over half of the global production, while India, Ecuador, and Vietnam export almost two-thirds of the world's shrimp. Ecuador became the world's biggest shrimp producer in the last two fiscal years, surpassing India due to its larger land, favourable climate, and major investments to raise the genetic quality of its brood stock.

India second largest producer of farmed shrimp

India is one of the largest exporters of cultured shrimp and has received help for shrimp farming from the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, and Food and Agriculture Organization.

With 9,00,000 tons of farmed shrimp produced in 2022, India is presently the second-largest producer behind Ecuador.

Separately, the Finance Minister laid out 9 priorities in the budget for the year ahead. The most important of them is productivity and resilience in agriculture. Sitharaman said that the government will undertake a comprehensive review of research to develop climate-resilient seeds.

“In the next 2 years, one crore farmers will be initiated in natural farming. ₹2.66 lakh crore will be provided for rural development,” the FM said.