China exported 27,379 metric tons of shrimp valued at about USD 158 million (EUR 111.2 million) from January to May this year, up a whopping 120.3 percent from the same five-month period last year, according to a report released this week by China’s General Administration of Customs.
In May alone, the country exported 6,595 metric tons of shrimp valued at about USD 39 million (EUR 27.4 million), in addition to exporting 90,000 metric tons of frozen fish valued at about USD 284 million (EUR 199.9 million).
Frozen fish exports from January to May reached 440,000 metric tons valued at USD 1.3 million (EUR 914,900), up only 0.8 percent from 2008.
Overall, China has ramped up farmed shrimp and seafood production amid the global financial crisis, working deals with developing nations such as Venezuela and exporting USD 2 billion (EUR 1.4 billion) worth of seafood to the United States last year, representing more than half of total U.S. food imports from China.
