Shrimp stocks jump as India eyes big chunk of global seafood pie

Shrimp farmers have been among the hottest stock trades in India this week after the government announced proposals to help local aquaculture firms capture a bigger share of a growing global market.

Shares of Avanti Feeds Ltd., Apex Frozen Foods Ltd. and Waterbase Ltd. have jumped about 20% each in the past two days after the federal budget was unveiled. New measures from the government call for additional financing for shrimp farming, processing and export while lowering taxes on certain feed imports.

The worldwide seafood market has exploded in the past couple of decades thanks to improvement in aquaculture technologies and growing health consciousness. Meanwhile, US import demand surged amid all-you-can-eat promotions such as the “Endless Shrimp” offer at Red Lobster, a unit of Avanti Feeds investor Thai Union Group Pcl.

India’s exports of seafood topped 600 billion rupees ($7.2 billion) in fiscal year 2024, with shrimp accounting for two-thirds, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said while announcing the budgetary proposals for the sector.

While India is the world’s second-largest aquaculture producer after China, its share of shrimp exports has struggled to cross 20%, according to CareEdge Ratings. Government measures, including reducing wastage through development of the cold-storage chain and testing laboratories, are expected to help Indian shrimp garner a better global market share, according to Arindam Saha, a director at the Indian ratings firm.