Seafood exporters ready for life without GSP Plus

By Shabiya Ali Ahlam
Sri Lanka’s seafood industry could face a massive hit should the European Union (EU) withdraw the GSP Plus concession. However, stakeholders of the sector said they were getting prepared to “live without it”.

As the island had not taken adequate efforts to repeal the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), the European parliament dropped the bombshell earlier this month on the possibility of the trade concession being withdrawn. The move would cripple the local export sector in the immediate term given that the EU is the country’s second largest export partner.

While the pulling out will be detrimental to industries such as apparel and agriculture, a senior representative of the seafood exports sector said layers are getting ready to face the situation.

“There is no doubt that the withdrawal of the GSP Plus will hit our exports (seafood), but we acknowledge that we can’t continue to depend on it. Even without the withdrawal, the scheme will expire in 2023, so a possible withdrawal would mean that this deadline has come one year early,” Seafood Exporters’ Association of Sri Lanka (SEAL) President Dilan Fernando told Mirror Business.

He shared that the countries competing with Sri Lanka for the market share in EU in the seafood segment do not have the concession, therefore either way, withdrawal or expiry, local exporters will have to step up efforts in securing the market.

“We will have to gear up for that either way. But yes, we have reached out to the government requesting them to do what it takes to retain GSP Plus at this point of time,” shared Fernando.

Bulk of Sri Lanka’s seafood export revenue comes from the export of tuna to the EU. In 2015, Sri Lanka lost the GSP Plus status for its failure to address issues revolving illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. This move prohibited the country from exporting its seafood to the EU which resulted in the industry facing a major setback. While fish exports plunged, Sri Lanka lost its market share to its competitors, namely Maldives, Vietnam, and Indonesia.

Meanwhile, although a number of countries, including Pakistan, were warned over the possible withdrawal of the GSP Plus scheme over the years, it was only Cambodia, in 2020, that witnessed the partial withdrawal of the trade concession.

For Sri Lanka, the regulation that governs the current GSP scheme expires on 31 December 2023. However, discussions were taking place regarding the future of the EU GSP regulation, with a number of different options and scenarios explored by the EU which included the continuation of the scheme as it is; a discontinuation of any GSP arrangement; and fine-tuning the existing regulation.

Currently, the GSP Plus preference is extended by the EU to Armenia, Bolivia, Cabo Verde, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Pakistan, The Philippines, and Sri Lanka.