Frozen food exporters in trouble with stockpile

The country's frozen food exporters have a significant quantity of stockpile of frozen fish following continuous price fall since October last year in the European market and rise in supply of vennamie in the international market, industry people said.
"At this moment there are around 11,000 tonnes of black tiger and fresh water prawn worth Tk 15 billion in different fish processing plants across the country," Bangladesh Frozen Foods Exporters Association (BFFEA) President Md Amin Ullah told the FE on Thursday.
"Out of this quantity around 90 per cent is black tigers. The frozen food exporters have been getting a very few number of export orders from European market and no orders from Russian market for the last two months," he said.
The US dollar hit a new high against major currencies, including euro and rouble for the last couple of months. Around 65 to 70 per cent of the country's total export goes to the European market, making it the biggest destination for frozen foods from Bangladesh.
This year the production of vennamie is good as the sector has overcome the effect caused by the Early Mortality Syndrome (EMS) in 2013-14. The production of vennamie is around 2.5 million tonnes across the globe, according to different websites.
The productions of vennamie in China, India, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia and Ecuador are far better than those of the previous year.  
"We're facing this situation as the Europeans and Russians are buying dollar at a higher rate, which increased the expenditure of our buyers," BFFEA Senior Vice President Kazi Bellayet Hossain said.
The exporters did not get export order since October last year. The exporters were supposed to get big export orders ahead of Christmas but the demand had fallen unexpectedly, he added.
Lockpur Group of Industries Deputy Managing Director Khan Habibur Rahman said the price of black tiger dropped by around 40 to 45 per cent in last four months and there is no order of black tigers, as the buyers are getting vennamie at lower rate in the international market.
He said the price of 16-20 count of black tiger is now below US$ 6.0 per pound which was $ 9.0 per pound in the first week of October last year in the European market. Bangladesh exported frozen foods worth $ 355.03 million from July to December of this fiscal year (FY), 2014-15, compared to $ 377.42 million of the same period in the last FY, the state-run Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) data showed.
The government has set a target of exporting frozen foods worth $ 731.08 million in this FY.
ironlady_007@yahoo.com