Farmed shrimp supplies have continued to improve this year as the industry continues its recovery from the early mortality syndrome (EMS) outbreak that devastated shrimp production sites across Southeast Asia and Central America in 2013 and 2014. In particular, Thailand’s shrimp harvest is expected to rise by around 10 percent this year to more than 300,000 MT, while Indonesia is expected to sustain its steady production growth from last year’s estimated level of 425,000 MT.
Total shrimp production in 2015 was estimated at 4.2 million MT, and the Global Aquaculture Alliance’s GOAL 2015 survey of production trends in shrimp farming forecasts that barring any new disease crisis, there will be an annual growth rate of around 7 percent this year and next, reaching 4.8 million MT in 2017.
The increased global supply is expected to see general prices soften further, which will be good news for buyers, but less so for producers and exporters. In fact, several farmers within key production regions in both Vietnam and India have been holding back restocking sites and/or reducing their densities in order to grow larger shrimp due to the declining price trend. A number of Vietnamese operations have also reported switching production back to black tiger shrimp from vannamei, as there’s growing international demand in the former variety.
