India’s position as the world’s second-largest shrimp producer faces growing threats

India, the world’s second-largest producer of shrimp after Ecuador, is facing a deepening crisis in its aquaculture sector due to steep U.S. tariffs, declining prices, and rising production risks. The crisis has severely affected millions of shrimp farmers across India’s coastal states, threatening both livelihoods and exports.

In Nandigram, West Bengal, shrimp farmer Buddhadeb Pradhan has taken a major financial gamble by cultivating a second shrimp crop within weeks of harvesting the first. Normally, farmers avoid multiple cycles in a single year due to high chances of disease outbreaks, but Pradhan is desperate to recover his ₹300,000 (about $3,380) investment. His decision was influenced by the sharp fall in shrimp prices, triggered by U.S. tariffs imposed under former President Donald Trump.

India exported $5 billion worth of frozen shrimp globally in the financial year ending March 2025, with the United States accounting for nearly 48% of the total exports. The country mainly produces two commercial shrimp varieties — the black tiger (Penaeus monodon) and the Pacific whiteleg, popularly known as vannamei (Litopenaeus vannamei). As of March 2024, India’s total shrimp production stood at 1.1 million tonnes, dominated by vannamei, with black tiger shrimp making up about 5% of the total output.

Shrimp farming in India follows two distinct cycles for vannamei — February to June, and July to October — while black tiger shrimp are cultivated once a year, from March to August. The industry is concentrated along India’s coastal states, including West Bengal, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Goa, Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Kerala. The sector provides direct and indirect employment to about 10 million people, including hatchery operators, feed suppliers, processing workers, and exporters.

The situation worsened after the U.S. announced new tariffs in May 2025, imposing a total of 58.26% duties — including 5.77% countervailing and 2.49% anti-dumping duties. The announcement led to an immediate price drop from ₹300 ($3.38) per kg to ₹230 ($2.59), while the production cost remains around ₹275 ($3.10) per kg. This imbalance has left farmers facing mounting losses.

Local farmer Nardu Das, also from Nandigram, expressed despair, saying many shrimp farmers could be driven to suicide if market prices fail to stabilize. He described shrimp farming as a high-cost venture, requiring significant spending on electricity, land leases, feed, and maintenance. Farmers often borrow money or invest savings, hoping for good returns, but disease outbreaks and price crashes regularly push them to the brink of poverty.

Industry experts warn that the new tariffs could cause India to lose its largest export market — the United States. According to Rahul Guha, Senior Director at Crisil Ratings, the U.S. is a preferred market due to higher profits and stable demand, but the steep tariffs will discourage investment in shrimp farming, which already involves high upfront costs.

Another major issue lies in India’s dependence on imported brood stock (mother shrimp) from the U.S., used to breed young shrimp. Many of these imports are either poor in quality or unsuitable for Indian conditions, leading to disease and production losses. IPR Mohan Raju, President of the Prawn Farmers Federation of India, urged the government to focus on domestic breeding programs to ensure disease-resistant and environment-adapted seed quality.

The shrimp hatchery sector has also been hit hard. India has around 550 private hatcheries, which rely heavily on shrimp farmers’ demand for seeds. Due to market uncertainty, many farmers have stopped purchasing seeds, forcing about half of the hatcheries to shut down, said Ravid Kumar Yellanki, President of the All India Shrimp Hatcheries Association.

Hatcheries collectively produce around 80 billion shrimp seeds annually, but over the last four months, they have discarded 7–8 billion seeds due to lack of buyers. Since the shelf life of shrimp seeds is only 3–4 days, the financial losses have been enormous. Yellanki warned that if conditions don’t normalize soon, it could lead to a mass collapse of hatchery operations across the country.

In summary, India’s shrimp industry — a key foreign exchange earner and livelihood source for millions — is now under serious threat from global trade barriers, production diseases, and economic instability. Without immediate government intervention and a shift toward local brood stock breeding and domestic market diversification, the once-thriving shrimp farming sector risks a major downturn.