China’s imports of Argentine red shrimp surged 232 percent during the first eight months of 2023, pushing Argentina into the top three of shrimp-exporting nations to China, according to a report by the Foreign Trade Department of Ecuador’s National Chamber of Aquaculture (CNA), based on official statistics from China’s Customs Department.
In metric tons, Ecuador continued its reign as the top shrimp supplier to China from January through August of this year, comprising 72 percent of the total, followed by India with 13 percent and Argentina with 3 percent. The remaining 12 percent came from a smattering of countries such as Thailand and Saudi Arabia.
During the first eight months of the year, Chinese shrimp imports grew to 675,556 metric tons (MT) – up 29 percent when compared to the same period of 2022 – and 10 percent year over year in dollar terms to USD 3.74 billion (EUR 3.56 billion). This continued a trend of increasing shrimp imports, as in 2022, Chinese imports of shrimp totaled USD 3.42 billion (EUR 3.25 billion) – surging 64 percent when compared to the first eight months of 2021 – and 523,981 MT – up 44 percent year over year.
Chinese shrimp imports may surpass 1 million metric tons (MT) this year, according to sector observers, defying global purchasing trends and achieving growth that no other market has gotten close to reaching in 2023. While Ecuador has played a pivotal role in driving China’s shrimp import growth, Argentina exported as much shrimp to China in the first half of this year as it did in all of 2022.
Argentine red shrimp (pleoticus muelleri) is caught in the Atlantic Ocean off the Argentinean coast, while Ecuador mostly farm raises its shrimp, with the majority of the product comprising Pacific white shrimp (litopenaeus vannamei). In the first eight months of 2023, Argentina caught 139,742 MT of shrimp; in comparison, during the same time, Ecuador exported 804,851 MT.
However, Argentina’s shrimp fishery has seen accelerated growth over the past two decades. In 2018, the country experienced the highest historical volume of landings of the species by catching 254,906 MT, or 32 percent of the fishing sector's total, generating exports worth USD 1.3 billion (EUR 1.2 billion). The dollar amount represents about 60 percent of the sector’s total.
The industry has seen stunning growth overall over the past 40 years. According to a report from Argentina’s Ministry of Productive Development, the catch volume of the species remained at about 2,500 MT per year until the 1980s, when the shrimp fishery gained greater prominence. During this period, fishing companies ventured into the shrimp fishery with large reefer vessels that previously captured squid and hake with trawl nets; targeting shrimp was a specific move to improve fishing companies’ economic operations.
At the beginning of the 1990s, trawlers became a primary fishing method within the fishery, triggering a technological change in the gear and capture methods. The fleet significantly increased its fishing power and improved shipowner profitability; total landings reached 24,496 MT in 1992.
However, the increased fishing of the resource had a subsequent negative impact on the biomass, which led to a new drop in landings. In response to the shrimp crisis of 1995, in which the fishery was found to be fully exploited, scientists, the Argentinean government, and fishing companies agreed to apply management measures – including seasonal closures, regulations on the size of trawlers, and the equipment they use – that secured a gradual recovery of the resource.
In recent years, the trawler fleet began to increase its area of operations, capturing shrimp in Argentine waters farther off the coast. This allowed further biological development of the resource and resulted in landings of larger specimens. As a result, landings surged 474 percent from 44,405 MT in 2006 to the record high of 254,906 MT in 2018. Despite a slight drop, landings still remain at high historical levels, and extraction reaches an average of about 200,000 MT a year.
Argentina’s shrimp exports have seen growth similar to the landings recorded in the last decade. The total exported volume of the resource expanded 373 percent from 39,149 MT in 2006 to 185,440 MT in 2018. Likewise, the value of shrimp exports increased from USD 371 million (EUR 353 million) to USD 1.3 billion (EUR 1.2 billion) over the same period. The 2018 banner year placed Argentina as the seventh-largest exporter of shrimp and prawns in the world.
Photo courtesy of Luis César Tejo/Shutterstock
