Current data indicates that China’s shrimp market has dramatically shifted from what was once primarily an export market to a net import market, rapidly increasing its importance on the global market.
Despite relatively nontransparent data from China, current statistics indicate that the country has more than overtaken the European Union as the second-largest shrimp market in the world. On top of that, imports of shrimp to the country have increased by 150 percent, largely driven by imports from Ecuador and India.
In 2017, China imported just over 100,000 tons of shrimp, according to estimates. But in 2019, it’s estimated that the country will end up importing close to 650,000 tons.
“The Chinese imports, estimated for 2019, are going to approach the level that U.S. imports are,” said University of Florida researcher James Anderson, who gave an overview of market trends at the 2019 GOAL Conference.
However, Anderson added, not all of that jump is entirely due to a massive increase in imports. Some of it can be attributed to changes in data.
“There wasn’t a big jump, it’s just those are the official numbers,” Anderson said. “They’ve been a net importer for quite a while, we just didn’t have the data to see it.”
The biggest exporter of shrimp to China is now Ecuador, which has seen a massive increase in exports to the country in the last six years. In 2018, the country sent nearly 300,000 tons of shrimp to China, making it the largest shrimp export market in the world.
Comparing the period between July of 2017 and 2018 and the same period in 2018 and 2019, Ecuador has seen a massive 38 percent increase in the amount of shrimp it has exported, with a 12.1 percent increase in value.
“It’s unbelievable that the second-largest producer can do that, in a low-price environment,” Gorjan Nikolik of Rabobank said.
Nikolik predicts the upward trend of Chinese imports will continue in 2019.
“China has become such an important buyer,” he said. “I think probably in 2019 it becomes the biggest buyer.”
The growth in China is contrasted by falls in markets in the E.U. and Japan, which have experienced 6 percent and 4 percent drops in shrimp imports, respectively. The continued drop in the Japanese shrimp market means it is no longer one of the world’s largest markets, falling behind the U.S. and China.
India’s export market, as well, has shifted. In the past India, sent the majority of its product to the E.U. and Japan, but now the country’s main focus is on the U.S. and China.
As supply continues to increase, Nikolik predicted that more emphasis will be put into marketing shrimp to encourage greater consumption.
“We need to think about marketing, and we need to get those guys in Europe and the U.S. to start eating more shrimp,” he said.
Photo courtesy of Chris Chase/SeafoodSource
