Gulf of Mexico fishermen landed 10.3 million pounds of shrimp in May this year, contributing to a total for the first five months of the year of 23.6 million pounds, up from 20.1 million pounds in the corresponding period of last year, according to the latest catch statistics released by NOAA.
Louisiana continued to supply the most shrimp in January through May with 10.1 million pounds, followed by Texas with 6.9 million pounds and Alabama with 3.3 million pounds.
NOAA’s ex-vessel pricing data showed a number of strong price shifts, with very low prices achieved for small sizes in May. For example, the prices for 41/50 count headless fell across the board – in the Eastern Gulf, Northern Gulf and Western Gulf, with the latter Texas ports achieving a price of just USD 1.08 (EUR 0.98) per pound, down from USD 2.98 (EUR 2.70) in May 2015.
At the other end of the spectrum, the prices for UN/15 count headless increased to USD 9.37 (EUR 8.49) per pound from USD 8.74 (EUR 7.92) in May 2015, falling just a little short of the record USD 9.45 (EUR 8.56) in May 2014.
However, price for UN/15 decreased in both the Eastern Gulf and Western Gulf – to USD 8.35 (EUR 7.56) and USD 8.80 (EUR 7.97) per pound, respectively.
Meanwhile, the United States imported 383.4 million pounds of shrimp in the first four months of this year, down from 397.5 million pounds in the corresponding period of 2015.
