“A lot of pain”: Shrimp farmers in India are reeling from American definitions

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Dozens of men joked and shouting in the waters of shrimp in Andra Pradesh coastal state in southeastern India, and they withdrew a large network behind them while trying to capture the largest possible number of shrimp.

The light atmosphere was deeply concerned about the 50 percent definitions that the United States slapped on Indian exports in August, which was severely damaged by the frozen shrimp industry in India.

Paskar Cogligada, one of the daily workers who revolve to the various shrimp farms in the region near Pedernam, Andra Pradesh, who surrounds the Godafary river who flows into the near Bay of Bengal.

Before the implementation of customs duties, the United States was the largest shrimp exports agent, as it took a little more than 40 percent of the market. Its total sales amounted to more than 2.5 billion US dollars (3.5 billion Canadian dollars) in the fiscal year 2023-24, according to the Indian Ministry of Trade and Industry.

Now, the shrimp is harvested intermittently, and a lot is placed on ice and in storage containers, with shipments stopped to the United States mostly.

Knicdda said that some workers who depend on the shrimp harvest were volunteer to reduce wages and others were heading to jobs even though they knew that they did not need the hope that they could make a few additional rupees.

The person looks a little with a slightly with a large pond in the background.
Bravin Sabinini says the price he gets to the shrimp, which was harvested on his three farms in Andra Pradesh, decreased by almost 40 percent. (Salimah Shivid/CBC)

“Before I have 20 days of work (a month), now it reaches only 10 days,” he said. “I don’t know how to manage.”

India’s shrimp industry is responsible for more than a million jobs in export companies, shrimp treatment factories and hundreds of small farms.

The pain is particularly sharp in Andra Pradesh, where 75 to 85 percent of shrimp in India It is produced, many of which are used to go directly to the United States shipping containers, according to industry data.

Definitions have doubled

The initial tariff for Indian exports was determined by 25 percent, but later multiplied to 50 percent by US President Donald Trump as a penalty for India’s purchases of Russian crude oil.

This has been granted a competitive advantage for the main international competition in India for shrimp exports, Ecuador, which deals with a 15 percent tariff.

“We were already suffering with (25 percent duty),” said Bravin Sabinini, who employs several hundreds of workers in three farms in Andra Pradesh.

He said that the price he gets to his brobility decreased by almost 40 percent, and this forces many farmers to think seriously about abandoning the cultivation of the shrimp completely. Others are developing other export markets, but this process may take months.

“We feel a lot of pain.”

Many people fill the boxes with shrimp.
Shrimp in the boxes are loaded in Andra Pradesh. (Salimah Shivid/CBC)

“Very difficult times”

It is the worst for the vast majority of shrimp farmers in India who have small conspiracies from the ground.

“These are very difficult times,” said Edocal Basani, a shrimp farmer who has one pond on 0.4 hectares of Earth, for CBC News.

The person looks forward directly.
Edukal Basani recently won 200 kilograms of shrimp but could not find a market for them. (Salimah Shivid/CBC)

He recently won 200 kilograms of shrimp, but he could not find anyone selling him, with the huge US tariff.

“I was lost,” said Bassani, 45 years old. “It was very frustrated. I didn’t want to get rid of it.”

Watch | American definitions leave Indian shrimp farmers struggle:

Trump’s tariff that crushes the frozen shrimp industry in India

The United States was the highest export market in India for shrimp, but the export tariff by 50 percent brought by the Trump administration had harmed the industry. Some farmers faced price cuts by approximately 40 percent on their hunting, and ways to live exporters and workers at stake.

Even as the state government advances electricity to shrimp farmers in an attempt to compensate for the bite new definitions, Basani finds it difficult to meet their needs.

“I have loans to pay, and I cannot withstand my salad bills.”

Bassani, who said he was playing with the idea of ​​leaving shrimp transplantation behind him, had to get his son out of the college because he could not bear the tuition fees and need more help in the farm.

A few other job options

Many jobs that depend on the strong shrimp industry in India are more than 300 equipment, most of which are women who spend hours peeling.

It is often the most reliable work available for women who have a few other options, even if the industry suffers from reports from rights groups of workers who are poorly salaries, exploiting and forcing them to work for additional hours.

Many people who wear a buttons and hair feel standing on steel tables peel and get rid of shrimp.
Many jobs that depend on the strong shrimp industry in India are more than 300 equipment, as the working women mainly and decrease the shrimp. (Salimah Shivid/CBC)

“My life depends on these wages,” said Lalatha Rajiswari, 45, who says she has an alcoholic husband who does not give her any money to the family’s expenses.

She and other women do between $ 6 and 9 dollars a day.

The person looked back on his right shoulder while he stole in front of a pile of shrimp, peeling one.
Lalitha Rajeshwari says her life depends on these wages gained in the shrimp processing factory, where she and other women earn between $ 6 and 9 dollars a day. (Salimah Shivid/CBC)

Looking for a commercial deal

Indian officials are concerned about securing a trade deal with the United States to help compensate for definitions, but there are many major points.

Trump wandered against the “hateful” commercial barriers of India, but New Delhi insists that she will not give in its red lines or open the agricultural or dairy sectors. The conversations were recently restarted after stopping for a few weeks in late August.

A person tends to pick up a shrimp -filled cage from a row of similar boxes.
Before the last American tariff to be implemented, the United States was the largest client of India for frozen shrimp exports. (Salimah Shivid/CBC)

“We are all worried” about the impact of definitions, “Radika Ante, 24, told CBC News.

She said that her family is conservative and will not only allow her to work in the factory, and he is close to her home and women rented only to treat this fishing.

“If you close this unit, how can we stay? Who will take care of our children?” The young mother said, without stopping her work, peeling the shrimp after the shrimp.

“We cannot do anything else.”



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