India once again put up an impressive monthly shrimp export total to the United States, surpassing 20,000 metric tons for the month of May.
Its precise total, 20,391 metric tons (MT), represents a 10.8 percent increase over its 18,408 MT of shrimp imports to the U.S. in May 2018.
India, for years the United States’ top source of shrimp, is on pace to break its own import record, set last year at 248,127 MT. Thus far in 2019, it has exported 95,135 MT of shrimp to the U.S, far above the 83,733 MT it had exported between January and May 2018. That represents an increase of 13.6 percent year-over-year.
Indonesia also recorded an uptick in U.S. shrimp exports in May 2019, delivering 11,772 MT of shrimp, up 17 percent from 10,060 MT in May 2018. However, its year-to-date total of 50,770 MT is down 8.5 percent from its 2018 January-May figure of 55,472 MT.
Ecuador also experience a rise in its shrimp exports to the U.S., moving from 6,884 MT in May 2018 to 7,718 MT in May 2019. Its year-to-date U.S. shrimp exports are up 6.1 percent thus far in 2019, reaching 33,659 MT.
Vietnam, in fourth place on the list, exported 3,632 MT of shrimp to the U.S. in May, up from 3,469 MT a year prior. Its total for 2019 is 16,872 MT, down 4.9 percent from 17,744 between January and May 2018.
In the midst of its ongoing trade war with the U.S., China’s shrimp exports plummeted further in May, spiraling downward to 1,902 MT in May 2019 from 3,142 MT in May 2018. Its year-to-date import total stood at 7,605 MT at the end of May, down 53.7 percent from the same period in 2018.
Thailand, Peru, and Honduras have also seen significant drops in their shrimp exports to the U.S., with Thailand’s January-to-May total falling by 18.8 percent, Peru’s decreasing by 19.5 percent, and Honduras’ total falling by 35.6 percent.
Overall, the United States imported 118,090 million pounds of shrimp in May 2019, up 5.9 percent from the 111,465 million pounds it imported in May 2018.
