Disease has the industry bracing for near record-high prices and no idea yet when production will return to normal in disease-stricken areas of Thailand and Mexico.
Anyone expecting the domestic Gulf of Mexico wild shrimp market to pick up all the slack caused by the worldwide shortage of farmed shrimp shouldn't be getting their hopes too high. That means near record-high prices and no idea yet when production will return to normal in disease-stricken areas of Thailand and Mexico.
“The story of shrimp is they are through the roof,” said the CEO of one mid-sized East Coast seafood company. “Mexican aquaculture, we’ve basically been told they’ve got a crop failure similar to EMS, although they haven’t been able to pinpoint yet exactly what it is. Add that to the fact the domestic brown season was nonexistent, and domestic whites are going to people who typically would want browns.”
The shortage of product may have buyers scrambling this holiday season and well into next year.
“There’s panic in the streets,” the CEO said. “Everybody sees shortfalls from every direction. Prices are pretty near record highs on just about all sizes and origins. Domestic production of whites is OK, but it’s not enough to make up for every other market, which has basically crapped out.”
Buyers are scrambling to secure shrimp where they can, and the CEO said he is looking all over to meet demand. “What we’re seeing are price lists that might have U-12s, U-15s but then they jump all the way to 40-50s; they don’t have any of the prime sizes to offer at all,” the CEO said. “We’re getting some domestic shrimp, but not enough. We’re getting some Vietnamese shrimp, but not enough. We’re getting Indian shrimp, but not enough.”
Pricing reports from early August had headless, shell-on domestic Gulf brown shrimp selling for around USD 3 (EUR 2.28) for smaller sizes to more than USD 14 (EUR 10.64) for U-10s. Shell-on, headless whites were bringing in around USD 4.50 (EUR 3.42) for 41-50s to more than USD 12 (EUR 9.12) for U-12s. Peeled, headless undeveined Gulf shrimp was in the range of the low-USD 2s (EUR 1.50s) to around USD 4.25 (EUR 3.23), depending on size, with larger sizes getting the higher prices.
Some buyers aren’t taking chances, choosing to buy enough to last through the 2014 Lenten season, the CEO said, adding he has bought enough to last “a while,” but not so much as to get caught when the market inevitably rebounds.
Seafood retailers are looking to diversify product offerings to offset the lack of shrimp and the high prices they are forced to sell it at, the CEO said, and this is helping to drive up prices for other species, most notably crab. “At the retail level — not so much at restaurant level — they appear to be trying to diversify and making sure to try to include crab in the mix,” he said.
Despite so much doom and gloom, there may be light at the end of the tunnel sooner than most people think. “Because the grow-out period for shrimp is relatively short, we could see some pretty good relief in a relatively short order,” he says. “We could see good relief by the spring, but if they find it doesn't pan out, then it will continue to be ugly.”
