India’s seafood export industry is reeling under pressure following the United States’ decision to impose 50% tariffs on Indian marine products, a move that has sharply reduced shipments to what has traditionally been the country’s single-largest export destination.

Exporters have projected as much as a 75% year-on-year fall in exports to the US in September.

While official country-specific data for September are yet to be released, industry experts told Financial Express that the sharp decline in exports to the US, which accounted for 35% of India’s marine shipments, is likely to drag down overall export performance in FY26.

“Shrimp exports are expected to fall in the second half of the current fiscal, after the US imposed effective duties of close to 60% on India’s shipment from August 27,” said Ajay Srivastava, co-founder, Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI).

Since the tariffs took effect, Indian exporters have been struggling to manage heavy losses. Despite External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar meeting US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Kuala Lumpur on October 27 on the sidelines of the ASEAN and East Asia Summit, India and the US continue to lack a bilateral trade agreement.

According to GTRI, exports of fish and crustaceans rose to $2.7 billion during April–August 2025–26, marking a year-on-year increase of over 15%. However, shipments to the US grew by only 2.7% to $859 million, with the slowdown attributed directly to the tariff impact.

Crisil Ratings has forecast that India’s shrimp export volumes will decline by 15–18% this fiscal due to the new US duties. The US accounted for 32.4% of shrimp exports in the last financial year, according to a GTRI brief. From paying no tariff earlier, Indian shrimp now face hefty import duties in the US.

Industry officials said the total effective duty on Indian seafood has climbed to 59.71%, including countervailing (5.76%) and anti-dumping duties (3.96%), in addition to the 50% tariff announced by President Donald Trump.

Earlier GTRI analysis had warned that the actual impact of the new tariffs would exceed the headline rate, particularly for labour-intensive sectors, and could approach 60% in some cases.

The bulk of India’s seafood exports to the US comprises ‘Vannamei Shrimp’. With Indian exporters now at a disadvantage compared to competitors from Ecuador (15%), Vietnam (20%) and Thailand (19%), the industry is aggressively seeking alternative markets.

“We are trying to find alternative markets including the EU, China, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia for boosting exports,” said Alex K Ninan, vice president, Seafood Exporters Association of India, reported Financial Express.

The crisis has also hit Andhra Pradesh hard, a state that dominates India’s shrimp exports. With the tariff burden now standing at nearly Rs 600 crore on about 2,000 containers, Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu — an ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) — has sought the Union government’s intervention to ease the distress.

Officials in the state estimate that Andhra Pradesh has suffered losses of around Rs 25,000 crore in shrimp exports, with about 50% of orders cancelled.

In separate letters to Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal and fisheries minister Rajeev Ranjan Singh, Naidu sought relief in the goods and services tax and urged the Centre to extend financial packages to shrimp farmers to offset the losses. He also recommended diversifying export destinations beyond the US.