Margins shrunk, farmers forced to switch: Trump tariffs sinking Odisha’s shrimp industry

The US has slapped a 50 percent tariff on Indian goods – from textiles and jewellery to shrimp and carpets – leaving exporters scrambling. This week, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu pegged the losses for his state’s shrimp farmers at around Rs 25,000 crore.

The impact has been brutal in other states too.

For example, Odisha, which has a large share of India’s fishery exports. In 2024-25 alone, the state exported fishery products worth over Rs 4,900 crore, according to the Marine Products Export Development Authority. 

But the margins have been shrinking.

“After the tariff, the margin will again drop. If this continues, we will be unable to survive,” says Nursinga Rout, a shrimp farmer from Puri’s Astarang block.

Watch.

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