SEAFOODNEWS.COM by Michael Ramsingh — October 3, 2014 –Though not at the historic pace seen in July, shrimp shipments to the US market continued to rally in August with shipments still firmly above last year's levels.
August imports were up 6.8 percent compared to to the same month in 2013. This helped pushed imports for the year to 770.8 million pounds an 11.9 percent increase from 2013.
Imports through 2014 are up for all major producing countries with the exception of Thailand and Mexico. However, Thai imports for August compared to 2013 are only down 6.3 percent while Mexican imports are up almost 24 percent.
Meanwhile, August shipments from Vietnam and Indonesia are higher while Ecuador imports are even versus 2013 figures.
Headless imports, including easy peel, remain higher through 2014 but are down 3.5 percent from last August. Imports of U/15 in August appear heavy while imports of 16-20, 21-25, and 41-50 count are lower.
Peeled imports were sharply higher. August imports compared to 2013 are up almost 20 percent with YTD imports up 14 percent.
Cooked shrimp and breaded shrimp imports were also higher.
As for the market, prices continue to hold at steady levels even with the higher shipments this year. Importers, still plugging up lost inventories from 2013, are currently paying higher replacement costs. Additonally, importers are also dealing with increased competition from overseas markets, namely in Asia, where their market share for imported shrimp is much higher compared to last year.
This story originally appeared on Seafood.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.