The US and China are importing record volumes of shrimp and almost all varieties of shrimp have witnessed record-high price levels, even with record volumes shipped by exporting countries, Nitin Awasthi of Incred Equities told FE.
Indian shrimps are going places with prices of animal proteins like beef, pork and poultry going north due to supply crunch and shipping constraints in the global market. The US and China are importing record volumes of shrimp and almost all varieties of shrimp have witnessed record-high price levels, even with record volumes shipped by exporting countries, Nitin Awasthi of Incred Equities told FE.
He added that as per the latest data, the US imported a record 78,716 tonne of shrimp in January at a unit value of $9.5 per kg as against 69,653 tonne in the year-ago period and for a unit value of $8.6 per kg. India’s share stands at 29,518 tonne, compared to 27,458 tonne in January 2021.In CY2021,Indian shrimp exports to US market touched 340,387 tonne from 271,839 tonnes in 2020.
“Meat prices, including that of seafood, have been rising in the US due to labour shortage. The impact of the current geopolitical problems has still not reflected on meat prices. Fuel prices are going up and its impact on meat prices is visible. Ready-to-cook and cooked produce for the retail segment, rather than for the food-service segment, is witnessing better demand, as has been the case during the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic,” he said.
“Demand for shrimp is on the higher side in most markets. The trend was discernible from the second half of last year and showed a stronger trend this year, especially from the US market. Demand is also high in China, the Far East, and the Middle East regions. I expect the shrimp prices to remain on the higher side throughout this year. The demand and supply dynamics are in favour of the shrimp farmers,” Shaji Baby John, chairman and managing director of aquaculture company Kings Infra Ventures, said.
Akeel Zafar of RF Exports, which exports mostly to the European market, said that demand is good and price is also firm despite problems in getting containers and shipping. He added that higher exports demand has led to farm-gate price increase of shrimps.
“US demand is still good and prices are firm. Prices were very hot for a while in the global market and have corrected. Demand from China has slowed a bit and there is a lot of constraints in exporting to China,”Anwar Hashim, managing director of Abad Fisheries, said.
He added that Indian production of shrimps has increased to 7,50,000 tonne, while Ecuador has crossed one million tonne.Shaji said that shrimp farmers are stocking the farms in full capacity, following the good demand.“The price remaining on the higher side also helped farming activities to gain full traction now since this is the peak stocking time. The hatcheries are fully stocked and geared for the high demand from the farms. Overall, it looks like it is going to be a great year for the shrimp farmers due to sustained demand, high prices and good quality seed availability,” he added. Awasthi estimates that production could touch record high with broodstock imports seen good.
“In Q3 India India witnessed record broodstock (parent stock) imports to the tune of 38,950 pieces in November (growth of 49% y-o-y) and 40,720 pieces in December (a rise of 17% y-o-y), respectively. These imports were because of high demand from the farming community for shrimp seeds. Record stocking by farmers should result in a record harvest, in our view, subject to disease outbreak,” he added.
