An Empirical Evaluation of the Seafood Exports in the Post-WTO Regime from India and Kerala

Abstract

Seafood export sector is a major trade item in the globalized trade of all commodities.  However, the fishery trade sector witnessed profound changes in the post-WTO period. This is because of the use of several technical and non-tariff trade barriers, which in most cases are stipulated by the importing developed countries. India is a prominent fishery exporting country with a foreign exchange earnings of $ 6.1 billion as per January 2022. State of Kerala is having a good legacy in seafood trade and one of the major fishery’s exporting coastal states of India. The post-WTO period has witnessed many dynamics in the fishery trade both in India and Kerala. The stipulations in the areas of TBT and NTBs and other quality standards have worked as a penumbra in the seafood trade and hence have to search for the traditional to non-traditional and emerging markets with the idea of uninterrupted seafood trade flow. Hence, the article tries to unravel the issues of these in this post WTO period. The article uses the data obtained from the Marine Products Export Development Authority in the form of monthly, quarterly and annual data. Along with this it also uses data from CEPII and UN Comtrade. The result also shows that there is a change from traditional to new markets in some cases, whereas the US and EU still dominate as major importers of the seafood from India and Kerala. The Gravity model explanation is giving a clear espousal that the values under stipulations are significantly related. The instability model also authenticates that there are instabilities in varying proportions from market to market.