Bangladesh hopes to increase shrimp exports to US five-fold in 5 years

Bangladesh, which is working with the US Agency for International Development and several American companies, aims to increase its exports of shrimp five-fold in the next five years, USAID officials said.

Second only in value to its ready-made garment exports, shrimp exports from Bangladesh have been earning USD $300 million annually. Now a project funded by USAID has the potential to increase the value of shrimp exports five-fold to USD $1.5 billion by 2010.

The United States and the European Union each import 40 percent of the shrimp, with the remaining 20 percent going to Japan. Bangladesh is already among the top 10 exporters of shrimp in the world and accounts for some three percent of global production.

The project, known as Shrimp Seal of Quality (SSOQ), is a major part of the second phase of the Agro-based Industries and Technology Development Project, managed by the Louis Berger Group, a global consulting firm that won a USD $10 million contract from USAID in 2001.That contract has since been supplemented by a USD $5 million input from the Bangladesh government for mostly training purposes.

Other project partners are Cargill Technical Services of Cargill Inc., an agri-business company, and Land O Lakes, a dairy farm cooperative, both based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Source:
PTI News