U.S. shrimp imports declined for the third straight month in October 2025, according to ShrimpInsight’s Willem van der Pijl.
Van der Pijl said that the continued contraction indicated that reciprocal tariffs between the U.S. and many shrimp-supplying nations had caused importers to reduce their inventories in order to manage tariff burdens, not that Americans were less interested in eating shrimp grown in other nations.
“Overall, October marked a turning point for U.S. shrimp imports,” van der Pijl said in an update on his industry blog ShrimpInsights. “The combination of reciprocal tariffs, policy uncertainty, and supplier-specific disruptions shifted the market from aggressive buying to consolidation.”
The value of shrimp imports to the U.S. in October declined 17 percent year over year, reaching only USD 530 million (EUR 454 million). Strong performance in the beginning of 2025, before tariffs took effect, helped offset that decline and still led to an improvement in year-to-date (January to October) value, with USD 5.86 billion (EUR 5.02 billion) of shrimp crossing into the U.S. during the 10-month period, marking a 13 percent increase.
Imports to the U.S. were also still up year over year by volume, van der Pijl stressed; the year-to-date import volume was 670,695 MT, up 6 percent from the same time frame the previous year.
Nevertheless, van der Pijl said “October clearly demonstrated how quickly trade policy and non-tariff barriers can reshape supplier dynamics and monthly import flows.”
India, which in 2025 had consistently been the top monthly supplier of foreign shrimp to the U.S., saw its export volumes crater in October, with only 13,217 MT of shrimp exported to the U.S., a 57 percent year-over-year decline.
That difference was made up by Ecudaor, which expanded its U.S. export market by 52 percent in October, with 22,016 MT exported.
Indonesia also continued its year-over-year decline that started in August due to the fallout from radioactive contaminants that were found in U.S. imports. It exported 8,510 MT of shrimp to the U.S. in October, marking a 34 percent year-over-year decline.
Vietnam and Thailand also saw year-over-year declines in import volumes, with Vietnam exporting only 6,248 MT (a 26 percent decline) and Thailand only exporting 2,694 MT (a 27 percent decline). According to van der Pijl, these declines were due to “ongoing competitiveness and cost challenges rather than acute policy shocks.”
Value-added products saw the biggest declines during the month, said van der Pijl, with marinated cooked shrimp down 32 percent year over year and peeled frozen shrimp down 28 percent year over year.
