Since September, U.S. imports have exceeded last year’s for the same period by 1.14 percent, even when imports in September declined by 0.91 percent compared to the same month in 2018.
While it appears that program business continues to move forward, street business, or spot buying, is extremely tame. Nevertheless, ShrimpTails still expects U.S. imports to exceed the 2018 volume.
The value is unlikely to go up, though, as currently the total value of imports into the U.S. to date has dropped by 4.38 percent. With a possible increase in imports from India in the coming months and the expected reduced demand in the period following the holiday season, U.S. importers wonder whether a price slump comparable to the one in 2018 is on the horizon.
