Exports of shrimp are reviving in Bangladesh.

Shrimp exporters have reversed a seven-year downward trend as shipments increased in the first nine months of the current fiscal year 2022 on the strength of higher pricing fueled by rising demand. This follows a seven-year fall in exports. According to figures from the Export Promotion Bureau, earnings from shrimp exports between July and March in the current fiscal year were USD 332.72M, a 37% increase over USD 242.88M earned during the same time in the previous fiscal year 2020-2021.

Since fiscal year 2013-2014, when the total annual value of shrimp exports was USD 545M, the total annual value of shrimp exports has been on a declining trend. Many processing companies have resumed shrimp exports, according to industry insiders, because they are receiving higher prices on the international market as a result of their success in overcoming fierce competition from producers in other countries.

Since the early 1990s, Bangladesh's competitiveness in the global shrimp industry, which generates a staggering USD 32B in annual commerce, has been hampered by policy ambiguity on the authorization of local producers to produce and export white leg shrimp. Only 30 to 35 shrimp processing companies in the country export their products, out of a total of approximately 105 in existence. Consequently, the government should take the initiative to encourage shrimp exports by giving both regulatory and monetary support to industry operators, who have long urged the authorities to devote greater attention to their concerns.