High demand for shrimp in Kerala, southwest India has coincided with a bountiful fishing monsoon in 2025. Despite increasing catches, the season is still young and is favoring solid pricing of pelagic fish, including mackerel. 

According to the Kerala Kaumudi on July 17, 2025, the shrimp-rich Chellanam harbor near the capital, Kochi, teems with fishers.

Following a purse seine ban, costs of normal nets currently range between 15 and 30 rupees ($0.17-0.35) per kg. 

Along with the costs are wholesale shrimp prices at 180 rupees ($2.09)/kg -although they could decline as supplies rally.

Fishers cite that in the past seven days, decent volumes of flower shrimp have been landing on their nets. 

Shrimp is one of the seafood products, along with frozen prawns, that informs a May 2025 trade deal with the UK.

Mackerel Supplies Tight

With mackerel a different story is unfolding since the season started just a fortnight ago on empty markets. 

Despite recovering supplies, pricing remains elevated because most initial landings in Kochi harbors ended up in factories for fish feed. 

Perhaps this is why vanjarama meen or king mackerel was fetching 350 rupees ($4.07)/kg by July 17, records the Golden Chennai.

Expectation is high, however, since schools of the marine fish have recently followed monsoon tides “in their tonnes” into Kochi.

So, as consumers in Kerala trust Kochi harbors to rebound shrimp and mackerel supplies, they also expect live fish prices to simmer down. To learn key extra facts about India’s famous two fish, read on in the following statistics section.

Kerala/India Mackerel and Shrimp Statistics 

With a borderline that constitutes 10% of India’s coastline, Kerala in the southwest of the subcontinent is a major fishing hub. It has 49 interior water bodies and 44 rivers, which along with the coast produce seafood worth 3% of the local GDP. This revenue makes the state one of the biggest fishing states in India, alongside Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal. Shrimp, mackerel, sardines and pearlspot are Kerala’s biggest fish species in production terms. 

What is the shrimp production status in India?

In perspective, shrimp is easily India’s largest seafood export. It generates $5.56 billion out of total seafood shipments worth $8.09 billion, as of the 2022-23 marketing year. The sector’s phenomenal success owes to the cumulative growth of farmed shrimp output at 23% in the period between 2011 and 2018. Andhra Pradesh in southeast India accounts for 70% of the national shrimp supplies while Tamil Nadu near Kerala represents 11%. 

How big is mackerel production in India and Kerala?

Though lesser than shrimp in volumes, mackerel is nevertheless the pride of India, which supplies 90% of the global catches. While the west and east coasts of India produce 77% of the total landings in the country, Kerala dominates purse seine catches. According to Science Direct, Kerala’s, Karnataka’s and other states’ purse seines account for about 60% of the annual national mackerel landings.