Bridges Trade BioRes • Volume 9 • Number 20 • 13th November 2009

Kerala Fishing Industry Opposes Trade Deal

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A coalition of fishing unions in the Indian state of Kerala says the recently signed Indian-ASEAN trade pact will severely impact local fisheries. The Kerala Fisheries Coordination Committee (KFCC) argues that the livelihood of some one million fishermen will be threatened by cheap imports when India’s Trade in Goods Agreement with the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations takes effect on 1 January 2010.

The Indian government has responded to the charges by assuring industry representatives that certain fish products are on a list of sensitive products and, as such, will not be negatively affected. But the coalition has insisted that even marginal reductions on tariffs on sensitive products will cause prices to plummet.

The trade pact, signed in August of this year (see Bridges Weekly, 9 September 2009, http://ictsd.org/i/news/bridgesweekly/54709/), envisages total elimination of tariffs on a reciprocal basis and would come into effect at the beginning of next year. Tariffs will initially be slashed by 80 percent, followed by the elimination of tariffs on some 3,200 products by December 2013 and tariffs on a remaining 800 products will be brought down to zero or near zero levels by December 2016.

The agreement will allow the use of safeguards for sensitive domestic goods for up to four years if liberalisation hurts domestic industry. The current list of sensitive products includes 489 items from the agricultural, textile, auto, and chemical sectors.

But critics of the agreement say the measures do not offer enough protection. “Despite the inclusion of some fish varieties in the negative list, availability of similar fish varieties in ASEAN nations would lead to Kerala becoming a dumping ground for surplus from ASEAN countries,” said V.V. Saseendran, a spokesman for the KFCC.

Saseendran said the agreement will allow over 177 species of fish to be imported under zero or reduced tariffs into Kerala.

ASEAN is one of New Delhi’s most important trading partners, accounting for 10 percent of India’s global trade, according Indian officials.

ICTSD Reporting; “Kerala fishermen protest India-Asean free trade pact,” FINANCIAL EXPRESS, 11 November 2009.