U.S. shrimp imports tumbled nearly 14 percent in February compared to the same month last year, according to figures the National Marine Fisheries Service just released.
After falling 13.2 percent in January, shrimp imports totaled 76.3 million pounds in February, down 13.8 percent from the same month last year. That's the biggest drop when comparing one month to the same month the previous year since November 2007, when shrimp imports were down 14.4 percent from November 2006.
So far this year, shrimp imports are down 13.5 percent, to 169.7 million pounds, compared to the first two months of 2008.
Shrimp imports from seven of the United States' top 10 shrimp suppliers slipped from the first two months of 2008 to the first two months of 2009. Imports from Malaysia, China and Vietnam experienced the biggest drops: 56.9 percent, 49.2 percent and 33.9 percent, respectively.
Among the United States' top three shrimp suppliers, imports from Thailand were up 0.4 percent, to 53.9 million pounds, while imports from Indonesia were down 3.7 percent, to 28 million pounds, and imports from Ecuador were down 4.2 percent, to 22.1 million pounds.
U.S. shrimp imports totaled 1.24 billion pounds in 2008, up 1.3 percent from 2007.
