SEAFOOD.COM NEWS by Michael Ramsingh — October 24, 2013 — A surge in August shipments positioned India as the top shrimp supplier to the US in 2013.
Overall, US shrimp imports in August were up 3.4 percent limiting 6.2 percent YTD shortfall in all imports to 688.7 million pounds. August imports generally represent the first month of building inventories for the upcoming holiday demand period. The impact of the threatened countervailing duty on August imports is difficult to determine. It appears that the need to build holiday inventory surpassed concerns regarding the CVD which was eventually terminated
Source: Urner Barry
India led the August surge and exported 24.1 million lbs of shrimp to the US, a 65 percent increase compared with the same month a year ago; tops among all major shrimp exporters to the US for the month.
Ecuadorian exports recovered from a poor July and increased over 25 percent to 18.7 million pounds, second to India.
Meanwhile Indonesian exports were up nearly 43 percent to 18.5 million lbs, rounding out the top three US suppliers for the month.
Thailand, historically the top shrimp supplier to the US, continued to reel from production issues related to shrimp EMS. In August Thai shrimp exports plummeted 55.9 percent to 12.2 million pounds, the fifth best shrimp exporter to the US for the month.
In fact for the first time in 2013, Thailand has been supplanted by India as the top US shrimp supplier. Thailand’s YTD shipments are down over 39 percent to 114.2 million pounds while India’s recent exporting surge has seen its YTD shipments spike over 68 percent to 122.1 million pounds.
Source: Urner Barry
Even while YTD Ecuadorian exports are down 7.3 percent to 119.9 million pounds; strong August exports propelled Ecuador pass Thailand as the second best US shrimp supplier.
So as US buyers ramped holiday purchasing in August, India has emerged as the top shrimp supplier to the US market; eclipsing not only Thailand, but Ecuador in the same month.
This story originally appeared on Seafood.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.