U.S. shrimp imports are picking up where they left off.
After a 3 percent increase in 2011, U.S. shrimp imports in the first two months of 2012 were up 8.3 percent to 189.8 million pounds, compared to the corresponding period in 2011, according to figures released on Thursday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Fisheries Service.
In February alone, shrimp imports were up 3.3 percent to 77.9 million pounds. In January, they were up an impressive 12 percent to 111.9 million pounds. Shrimp imports from only one of the United States’ top seven shrimp suppliers, Thailand, fell that month. Shrimp imports from Indonesia, Ecuador, China, Vietnam, Mexico and India continue to pour into the country.
At nearly 1.27 billion pounds, U.S. shrimp imports finished 2011 up 3 percent from 2010.
