The United States imported 173,888 metric tons (MT) of shrimp in the first five months of this year, down significantly on the 219,878 MT that was on par with the corresponding period of 2015, according to the latest statistics from NOAA Fisheries.
Indonesia was the U.S. market’s No. 1 supplier during this period with 37,189 MT, followed closely by India with 34,875 MT, and then Ecuador and Thailand with 23,320 MT and 22,355 MT respectively. These volumes were all much lower than in the first five months of 2015.
In terms of product formats, it is estimated that in Q1 2016 the U.S. market imported 116.2 million pounds of shell-on headless shrimp, 157.5 million pounds of peeled shrimp, 864,200 pounds of canned shrimp and 22.1 million pounds of breaded shrimp.
In 2015, the United States imported more than 586,000 MT of shrimp with a total value of around USD 5.5 billion (EUR 4.9 billion).
Meanwhile, in the first four months of this year, U.S. fishermen landed almost 13.3 million pounds of shrimp into the domestic market, up from 9.7 million pounds in the corresponding period of 2015.
The average ex-vessel price per pound of 15/20 sized headless shrimp during this period was USD 7.62 (EUR 6.79) in the Eastern Gulf, USD 4.81 (EUR 4.28) in the Northern Gulf and USD 9.57 (EUR 8.52) in the Western Gulf.
For 41/50 sizes, prices stood at USD 1.75 (EUR 1.56) in the Eastern Gulf, USD 1.74 (EUR 1.55) in the Northern Gulf and USD 1.12 (EUR 1) in the Western Gulf.
