Ornamental Fish Exports from India: Performance, Competitiveness and Determinants

Abstract

Ornamental fish production globally is a multibillion dollar industry. The present study appraises the performance, competitiveness and determinants of ornamental fish exports notably from India during 19912009 using parameters viz., Export Competitiveness Index (XCI), Constant Market Share Analysis (CMS) and Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA). The XCI delineates the changes in market share of different countries for ornamental fish exports and it was around one for most of the years suggesting that Indian ornamental fish exports were competitive. The RCA was used to outline the export competitiveness and CMS to identify specific markets and identify realistic competitiveness for Indian ornamental fish exports. The results suggest that India has made tremendous progress in the export of ornamental fish. The major export destination for Indian ornamental fish was Singapore followed by Japan, USA, Malaysia and Germany. CMS analysis revealed that exports were in fact more competitive in USA in contrast to major export destinations namely Singapore and others. However, in order to keep abreast with current development trend of world ornamental fish trade there is urgent need to augment and drive India’s competitiveness conspicuously by manifold increase in ornamental fish production, diversification of species cultured, innovative marketing and institutional arrangements.