Japan imported more than 29,300 metric tons (MT) of frozen shrimp in the first-quarter of this year, up by 5,000 MT year-on-year, although it should be noted that in Q1 2015 the country’s imports of this product – its preferred format –were at a five-year low. This trend is because the yen has been weak against the U.S. dollar since the end of 2013, making import prices higher in Japan despite the price decline in the international market.
Furthermore, the January through March period is generally a low production period for shrimp.
In value terms, the country’s Q1 2016 frozen shrimp imports were worth JPY 34.1 billion (USD 313.8 million, EUR 277.5 million).
India and Indonesia leapfrogged Vietnam to become Japan’s main suppliers with frozen shrimp exports to the market of 6,174 MT and 5,741 MT, respectively. Although of the two, Indonesia posted the highest value with JPY 7.4 billion (USD 68.1 million, EUR 60.2 million), compared to India’s JPY 6.2 billion (USD 57 million, EUR 50.4 million). Vietnam, meanwhile, supplied 5,446 MT of frozen shrimp, valued at JPY 6.9 billion (USD 63.5 million, EUR 56.2 million).
According to World Trade Centre (ITC), Japan’s shrimp imports in 2015 totaled 213,700 MT, valued at USD 2.3 billion (EUR 2 billion), which represented decreases of 4 percent in volume and 18 percent in value compared to the previous year.
Barring any further disease crises, global shrimp production is widely expected to continue to grow this year to around 4.5 million MT and then to 4.8 million MT in 2017.
