The Gulf of Mexico represents less than 10 percent of the U.S. shrimp supply, but the anxiousness surrounding the catastrophic oil spill in the region is reverberating across the global shrimp supply chain.
Due to rotating fishing closures across much of the southeastern part of the state, Louisiana shrimp production was about 30 percent of what it normally is in mid-June; the state accounted for nearly 44 percent of the 131.3-million-pound Gulf shrimp catch last year.
The supply shortfall in the Gulf is putting additional pressure on U.S. shrimp imports, as buyers in the Southeast scramble to find alternative supply sources.
"You have people racing very quickly to offset a perceived shortfall … which I think drove a lot of the frenzy," said one East Coast seafood executive. I believe that that market will calm down as [farmed shrimp] harvests [overseas] come online. Typically May, June and July is when we start to see product."
Whether enough product will hit U.S. shores in the coming months to quench demand remains to be seen. In fact, through April, U.S. shrimp imports had dropped in nine of the last 10 months. Through the first four months of 2010, U.S. shrimp imports were down almost 4 percent, to 323.2 million pounds, from the same period last year.
"In terms of the supply situation, what you saw was a kind of a coming-together of a series of factors," said the executive. "One was the typical low point in the year for aquaculture production combined with disease problems in Indonesia — its production is down around 30 percent — and problems with the Mexican fishery being certified in time for the fall [harvest]. And, at the same time, there's a dent in Gulf production.
"I'm not sure it's going to sustain itself long-term, but definitely for the short-term we've seen strong prices and it will probably continue to drive up [prices of] large sizes particularly," he added.
In mid-June, prices of Asian-raised, raw, shell-on, head-off Pacific white shrimp were trending upward; 21-25s were tagged in the mid- to high-USD 5 range, 26-30s in the mid-USD 4 range, 31-35s in the 31-35s in the high-USD 3 range, 36-40s in the mid- to high-USD 3 range and 41-50s in the low- to mid-USD 3 range.
