Leading exporters said India could emerge as a market leader in the EU if the non-trade barriers are removed.
“India is going to benefit in a great way by the India EU-FTA, as the duties on our seafood exports, which range from 4.7% to 7.5%, would reduce to nil,” said Pawan Kumar G, president of the Seafood Exporters Association of India (SEAI).
India’s seafood exports to Europe have increased after the US last year raised tariffs on Indian goods. The US was India’s largest buyer of marine products.
“The FTA will further enhance that momentum of exports to the EU as we now get a level playing field with competitors like Vietnam,” said Pawan Kumar. “Our unique advantage is the vast range of value-added products we have to offer. However, there are some non-trade issues, which we will have to work on.”
According to SEAI, in 2024-25, India exported seafood valued at about $1.1 billion to the EU. Seafood exports to the EU showed an increase of 28% in quantity terms and 37.8% in value terms during the April to November period of 2024 from the year-ago period.
The average tariff lines are about 4.7% to 7.5% across all marine products groups which are traded with the EU.“The FTA will nullify the disadvantage which we had against our major competitors like Vietnam and Thailand. If the non-trade barriers, like 50% sampling of our products, is taken care of, we will emerge as a market leader of seafood exporters into the EU,” said a leading exporter, who requested not to be named.
“We are confident that this move will help to achieve our objective of diversification of markets and enable our produce to attain the pole position in this region,” said Pawan Kumar.