DHAKA, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Bangladesh's frozen food export plunged in the first quarter of the current fiscal year 2009-10 ending in June as the sector suffered a big blow due to cyclone Aila that battered the country's southwestern coast in May this year, officials said Tuesday.

    Apart from this, they said shocks of the global recession and suspension of fresh water prawn export for six months until November this year to European market, after finding the food itemcontaminated with unsafe chemical nitrofuran, have also contributed to drastic export fall.

    Bangladesh's frozen food exports during the July-September period of the current fiscal year 2009-10 (July 2009-June 2010) plunged 37.92 percent to 101 million U.S. dollars over that in thesame period a year ago, showed Bangladesh's Export Promotion Bureau(EPB) data.

    According to Bangladesh Frozen Food Exporters' Association (BFFEA), nearly 1.5 million people, heavily dependent on the industry which is second largest export earning sector of Bangladesh after ready-made garment that earned over 12 billion U.S.dollars in 2008-09 fiscal year, also affected to some extent as export earnings constricted.

    Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the BFFEA Abul Bashar told Xinhua Tuesday, "Three particular reasons including global market slowdown, export suspension of fresh water prawn and hit of cyclone Aila have contributed to export fall."

    The BFFEA had earlier estimated nearly 10 billion taka (about 142.9 million U.S. dollars) loss as shrimps of around 70 percent farms, which employ nearly 1.3 million people in Khulna region, were washed away due to the cyclone Aila.

    "Shrimps from around 70 percent of the farms in the country's southwestern Khulna region, the major growing area, were washed away due to cyclone Aila," Md Golam Mostafa, former president of the BFFEA, said.

    Aila, formed in Bay of Bengal, crossed Bangladesh's southwestern Khulna coast with a speed of 70-90 kilometers per hour, triggering abnormally high tidal surge and heavy rains.

    According to BFFEA, farmers in the Khulna region, which comprises of several districts, cultivate marine shrimps at around170,000 hectares of land and freshwater prawns at 50,000 hectares of land.

    "Cyclone Aila hit at a time when the farmers were awaiting to start harvesting. Most of the farms were full of shrimps as it was the peak season," Mostafa said.

    Aila was the biggest natural calamity in Bangladesh after a powerful cyclone Sidr, which, with a speed of 240 kph, battered the country's southwestern coastal belt, homes to nearly 86,000 shrimp farms, on Nov. 15, 2007 and claimed lives of over 4,000 people.

    Mostafa said Aila destroyed around 80 percent of Khulna region's total shrimp farms immediately after the frozen food industry fell in trouble as fresh water prawns found contaminated with unsafe chemical nitrofuran.

    The BFFEA in mid May this year decided not to export fresh water prawn (Golda), which constituted nearly 30 percent to total export earning, to EU countries for six months from June to November as the frozen food products were found contaminated with unsafe chemical nitrofuran.

    Sector insiders said many of the Ail hit farms could not start cultivation even after five months of the cyclone due to financial crisis.

    They, however, said many farmers are reluctant also to go for fresh cultivation being afraid of further hit of any natural calamity in the low-lying country bordering the Bay of Bengal, which has become more vulnerable in recent time to climate change-related problems.

    They said the Bangladesh government has already included the frozen food sector in its stimulus package, which farmers had not received yet, in the wake of the global financial meltdown which pulled down demands and prices of the food items to some extent in U.S.A. and the European Union market.

    The BFFEA CEO Bashar, however, could not tell how much in demands slided but said prices of per pound shrimps have gone down by around 30 percent in global market which already cast a negative impact on Bangladesh's export earning in the last fiscal year.

    Bashar said Bangladesh fetched 454 million U.S. dollars from export of frozen foods in the last 2008-09 fiscal year against 534.07 million U.S. dollars in previous 2007-08 fiscal year (July 2007-June 2008).

Special Report:  Global Financial Crisis