Whether it's a lack of availability or prices that just won't budge, there's a lot of uncertainty facing U.S. shrimp buyers as summer transitions to fall and the spot market heats up in time for the frantic winter holiday season. But one of the biggest question marks on the global shrimp scene remains Mexico.
Mexico — which delivered more than 90 million pounds of shrimp to the United States last year, making it the country's No. 6 shrimp supplier, trailing only Thailand, Indonesia, Ecuador, China and Vietnam — is trying to overcome challenges with both farmed and wild shrimp.
For farmed shrimp, the issue lies with the white spot virus that ravaged Ecuador's shrimp-farming industry a decade ago and has also been a problem in Asia. White spot has "decimated" farms in southern Sinaloa, according to one shrimp industry veteran, and now poses a threat to Sonora to the north.
"The more northern areas in Sonora have not seen the mortality rates experienced in the southern region, but many farmers and packers feel it is only a matter of time," he said. "Some suppliers are predicting that there will be very little large-size shrimp (16-20s and 21-25s) from the farms this year, as most farmers are afraid of extending their final harvests where most of the large sizes in recent years have come from.
"Furthermore, the Mexican domestic market demand is very strong due to competition for the available supply," he explained. "There are some forecasts that predict Mexico's U.S. exports could fall as much as 50 percent this year."
In the first half of 2010, U.S. shrimp imports from Mexico dropped 15 percent, to 23.2 million pounds, according to the National Marine Fisheries Service. In June alone, they plummeted 83 percent, to just 741,000 pounds. Total U.S. shrimp imports slipped 2.9 percent, to just over 500 million pounds, in first six month of 2010, so overall availability is tight.
The other issue Mexico is dealing with is a U.S. import ban on its wild shrimp, enacted in April by the U.S. State Department because a limited number of Mexican trawlers fishing in the Gulf of Mexico and Sea of Cortez are not using turtle excluder devices (TEDs) properly and are inadvertently trapping sea turtles.
The ban, which is expected to be lifted next month, remains in effect. It has had a minimal impact so far since Mexico's wild shrimp season ended in March, but the Gulf of Mexico season is now under way and the Sea of Cortez season is about to ramp up.
In mid-August, shell-on, head-off Pacific white shrimp from Latin America was quoted in the low-USD 6 range for 21-25s, mid-USD 4 range for 26-30s, low-USD 4 range for 31-35s, mid-USD 3 range for 36-40s and low-USD 3 range for 41-50s.
