U.S. shrimp imports rebound

U.S. shrimp imports increased for the third consecutive month in May, topping 85.1 million pounds, up 7.2 percent from May 2008, according to figures the National Marine Fisheries Service released on Friday.

After falling 13.2 percent in January and 13.8 percent in February, U.S. shrimp imports rebounded in March, April and May, jumping 8.7 percent, 6.3 percent and 7.2 percent, respectively.

However, through May shrimp imports were still down 2.1 percent from the same five-month period last year, to 421.4 million pounds.

U.S. shrimp imports from Vietnam, China and Malaysia are down 14.1 percent, 26.7 percent and 37.7 percent, respectively, from last year. However, imports from Mexico and India are up 34.6 percent and 60 percent, respectively.

Imports from Thailand were down just 0.7 percent through April, to 125.1 million pounds, from last year. Imports from Indonesia were down 4 percent, to 76 million pounds, while imports from Ecuador were up 9.5 percent, to 6.1 million pounds. Thailand, Indonesia and Ecuador are the top three U.S. shrimp suppliers.

Thailand, Indonesia, Ecuador, Vietnam and China were the United States’ top five shrimp suppliers in 2008, representing nearly three-quarters of total U.S. shrimp imports, which exceeded 1.24 billion pounds.

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