European consumers are not being deterred by the rising price of whiteleg shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) imported from Ecuador, but the South American country has nevertheless been sending less product to EU markets in recent months.
According to new data compiled by the European Market Observatory for Fisheries and Aquaculture Products (EUMOFA), the average EU import price in week 4 of this year stood at EUR 6.61 (USD 8.16) per kg, up from EUR 6.11 (USD 7.55) in week 42 of 2017. Looking further back, prices in 2012 were largely between EUR 4.50 (USD 5.56) and EUR 5 (USD 6.17) per kg.
Ecuador’s shrimp production has grown at a rapid rate in recent years, reaching a level of around 400,000 metric tons (MT) in 2015, and an annual production growth rate of 5 percent is expected for the period 2017-2019. Almost two-thirds of its shrimp is produced in the Guayas province, with the remainder coming from El Oro, Manaibi and Esmeraldas.
EUMOFA highlighted that a notable share of Ecuadorian producers continue to rely on extensive production methods (much more than Asian shrimp farmers), and that the resulting larger-sized and more uniform shrimp coming out of the South American country are appreciated by European consumers and increasingly by Asian markets.
Indeed, the EU has long been an important trading partner for Ecuadorian shrimp, purchasing more than 50 percent of its exports in 2010. Since then, though, other markets have ramped up their share of at the expense of the EU. EUMOFA said the share going to the EU declined to less than 30 percent in 2015 and 2016, and to less than 25 percent during the first 10 months of 2017.
Due to the rapidly increasing production, the annual export volume destined for EU has remained strong, rising from 80,000 MT in 2010 to 91.000 MT in 2016. However, for the period January to October 2017, exports to the EU totaled 76,200 MT, which was down 6 percent year-on-year. Within the EU, the leading importers of Ecuadorian shrimp are Spain, France, Italy, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.
Ecuador’s export market with the greatest growth is Vietnam, which grew from less than 1 percent of Ecuador's shrimp export value in 2010 to nearly 50 percent in 2016 and continues to increase. The other large importer in Asia is China, but parallel to Vietnam’s growth, exports to China have declined.
Although it is believed that a notable share of the product going to Vietnam still has China as the final destination, clarified EUMOFA.
In total, Ecuador exported more than EUR 2 billion (USD 2.5 billion) worth of shrimp in 2016, this record value was more than double that of 2012 and accounted for 60 percent of the country’s seafood exports. In volume terms, its shrimp exports totaled 326,000 MT, or 40 percent of its total amount sold overseas.
