The United States imported 286,090 metric tons (MT) of shrimp in the first-half of this year, an increase of more than 22,000 MT year-on-year, but this growth is mainly accounted for by significantly greater volumes coming from India, finds the latest trade data compiled by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries.
In the last year, India has leapfrogged Indonesia to become the U.S. market’s No. 1 supplier of shrimp, providing 85,681 MT of products in H1 2017, up from 53,971 MT in the first six months of last year. Indonesia, meanwhile, has seen its shrimp exports to the Unted States fall by around 2,000 MT to 56,367 MT over the same period.
Indeed, India is the only one of the United States’ top five shrimp suppliers to grow its trade this year, with volumes from Ecuador, Thailand and Vietnam down to 37,023 MT, 29,904 MT and 22,475 MT respectively in the first-half of this year. There was, though, a 5,000 MT increase in the supply from China, which totaled 19,895 MT in H1 2017.
The main shrimp product formats imported by the United States are peeled, shell-on headless and breaded.
The per capita consumption of shrimp in the country amounts to 4 pounds (1.8 kg), making it the nation’s favorite seafood product ahead of salmon with 2.879 pounds (1.3 kg) per capita and tuna with 2.2 pounds (1 kg).
