As many as 1,200 containers of Indian shrimp exports may now be stranded in Chinese ports, locking up product valued at around Rs 1,200 crore (€137 million/$161 million), the New Indian Express reports.

This follows reported discoveries of coronavirus traces on the outer packaging of the frozen shrimp exported from India. Each container carries around 16 metric tons of frozen shrimp.

Entry of product belonging to around 50 Indian seafood exporters has been refused, and roughly half of the products are from India's main shrimp producing region Andhra Pradesh, the report said.

The port refusals have many fearing that more than 19,000 metric tons of shrimp will go to waste.

China is the second-largest importer of Indian shrimp behind the United States, accounting for around 46 percent by volume.

Ecuadorian shrimp producers were caught up in a similar issue last year, insisting any discoveries of COVID-19 must have come from contact with external sources as the shrimp passed through a long chain of custody to their final destination.