5. Shrimp trade, marketing and economics

5.1 Current and potential world shrimp production levels

Current world shrimp culture production levels are shown in Tables 1 and 3 and Figure 1 and are updated regularly at the FAO Fishstat database^[15].

5.2 Marketing advantages

White shrimp, such as P. vannamei and P. stylirostris, are the preferred species for consumption for the world's largest shrimp market - the USA. Additionally, from the USA consumers' point of view, they can be mixed together and sold as western white shrimp (Rosenberry, 2002). USA consumers appear to prefer the taste of P. vannamei over P. monodon (Rosenberry, 2002), particularly from freshwater production (UF/IFAS, 2003).

There is also a strong demand for P. vannamei in the local markets of Mainland China and Taiwan Province of China (where 75 percent and 100 percent, respectively, of their production is sold locally) and Thailand (Peterson, 2002). However, many Asian countries have no experience with P. vannamei and P. stylirostris and processing plants are often reluctant to accept this species until they have found established markets for this product.

Another advantage is that P. vannamei have a higher meat yield at 66-68 percent than P. monodon at 62 percent.

The ability to close the life cycle of P. vannamei and P. stylirostris, as well as their ability to be reared in closed, low-salinity systems, might also be seen as a marketing advantage, particularly for the image-conscious European market, which is being consumer-led to search for more environmentally friendly products.

5.3 Market value and market competition of Asia and the Pacific with Latin America

USA shrimp market

The USA has been the major market for farmed shrimp over the past few years, and the market condition in the USA is now the predominant factor affecting international market prices. Shrimp is the number one seafood consumed in the USA, with per capita consumption increasing from 1.3 kg in 2000 to 1.6 kg in 2001. Imports have now reached 430 000 metric tonnes/year, worth US$ 3.4 thousand million, and are increasing at 7 percent/year (Tables 8 and 9 and Figure 3). Imported shrimp accounted for 88 percent of the demand, with local production only able to meet 12 percent of that demand (Globefish website^[16], NMFS website^[17]).

The USA market share between Latin America and Asia was 67 percent from Asia and 33 percent from Latin America in 2002 which is a significant increase for Asia in recent years (56 percent from Asia and 44 percent from Latin America in 1999) (Globefish website; NMFS website).

Despite problems with the USA economy, the market demand recovered somewhat in 2002 after a 40 percent decrease in retail prices following the September 2001 terrorist attack on New York, although in general prices have been declining steadily since 1997 (Figure 3). Early 2003 has shown slow demand due to continuing problems with the USA economy and war in the Middle East (Globefish website; NMFS website).

In the USA market, the major exporters in 2002 were Thailand, Mainland China, Viet Nam and India. Thailand lost some ground due to problems with the culture of P. monodon, whilst Mainland China increased dramatically due to the new production and export of P. vannamei. Other countries increasing their share included India, Ecuador and particularly Viet Nam and Brazil.

Figure 2: Importation of shrimp to the USA from all and selected countries (1994-2002)

Although Thailand lost some overall share, they increased exports of value added shrimp and are currently the major supplier of such shrimp to the United States market. Thailand exported 42 percent of its shrimp as processed product in 2001 and it is attempting to increase this towards 80 percent to increase diversity, value and maintain its lead in exports of processed shrimp. Thailand can expect to face greater competition in export markets from Mainland China, Viet Nam and India in the near future, however, as these countries continue to improve the quality of their processing industries (Globefish website; NMFS website; TFRC website^[18]).

The huge importation of shrimp into the USA market, combined with falling prices, have recently led to accusations of dumping by the shrimp fisherfolk of the USA. In 2004, a group of fisherfolk and shrimp farmers (the Southern Shrimp Alliance) have brought an antidumping case to the US International Trade Commission (ITC) aimed at reducing the quantity of shrimp imported by the US and raising prices (The Wave website, July, 2003^[19]). This ongoing issue may result in the imposition of high tariffs on shrimp that are imported from the major producing countries in the world. For the Asian region (as of April 2004), this includes China, Viet Nam, Thailand and India. One of the effects of this type of action is that the market will seek to source shrimp from countries unaffected by the tariffs and there will inevitably be increased competition between the Asian exporters and greater uncertainty for producers. At the same time, there is renewed interest to revert to Black Tiger shrimp (P. monodon) production in order to access alternative markets. One of the possible positive aspects of this is that the increased awareness of the benefits of SPF/SPR shrimp may encourage renewed efforts to produce similar captive P. monodon broodstock. Currently, almost the entire P. monodon production industry is still based upon the capture of wild broodstock.

Source: NMFS website; http://www.st.nmfs.gov/pls/webpls/trade

Figure 3: Average value (US$/kg) of shrimp imported into the USA (1994-2002)

Another problem for most shrimp producers is the well publicised EU restrictions related to the detection of banned antibiotic residues in shrimp and the USA which has also introduced much stricter controls over testing for these banned antibiotics (chloramphenicol and nitrofurans). With the introduction of technology capable of detecting 0.1 ppb levels of these substances, the testing for and enforcement of these levels on future shrimp imports will inevitably lead to problems for exporting countries.

Introduction of stricter testing has been facilitated by the development of more sophisticated analytical equipment, driven partially by consumer concerns over food safety. Additional import controls relate to the antidumping case by USA shrimp fisherfolk and farmers, who claim that they are being put out of business through the importation of cheap farmed shrimp. A result of this is that product traceability from pond to plate is also becoming a greater priority.

Table 8: Importation of shrimp into the USA from all and selected countries (1994-2002)

Source: NMFS website

Table 9: Importation of shrimp into the USA and Japan in 2002

Source: NMFS website

Japanese market

The Japanese market took 80 percent of its shrimp imports from Asian countries (particularly Indonesia, Viet Nam and India) in 2002, compared to just 20 percent from Latin America. The rest of the world supplied shrimp derived mostly from capture fisheries from Russia, Greenland, Canada and Argentina, with very little from the domestic culture industries of Ecuador (1 700 metric tonnes) and Brazil (1 000 metric tonnes) (NMFS website) (Table 9).

European market

The European market has always been more particular than the USA or Japanese markets and, due to consumer pressure has recently become even more concerned about a range of issues. These include: sustainable and controlled farming, antibiotic regulation, ethical employment standards, traceability, genetically modified feed ingredients, fishmeal sustainability, animal welfare, genetics in shrimp breeding, dioxins, polychlorinated bi-phenyls (PCBs) heavy metals, agrochemicals and irradiation.

A combination of these concerns (but particularly antibiotic residues) has led to recent restrictions on importation of farmed shrimp from many Asian countries (due to detection of chloramphenicol and nitrofuran metabolites) and from Ecuador (due to metabisulphite residues). The zero tolerance policy regarding chloramphenicol and nitrofuran has been particularly highlighted since improved detection capability within Europe has enabled previously undetectable levels of these two antibiotics to be found. The absence of technology and capacity to detect at these levels of sensitivity within the exporting countries has also led to disputes regarding the application of the more sensitive techniques and claims that this represents a technical barrier to trade.

In general, as economies around the world have slowed during recent years, and production (largely of P. vannamei) is rising, demand and hence prices have inevitably been decreasing.

As Ecuadorian and Latin American production of shrimp declined from 1999 due to the introduction of WSSV from Asia, Asian countries, particularly Mainland China, Thailand and Viet Nam, took advantage and increased their production dramatically. Although USA imports are increasing slowly, these production increases (from 1 million metric tonnes in 1998 to 1.6 million metric tonnes in 2003) coincided with a cooling in demand from Japan and Europe; the decreasing Japanese market is due to its poor economic status.

In Europe, higher tariffs (and strict antibiotic testing) are limitations in accessing the market. For Thailand (in 1998) and soon after for Viet Nam (2003), the removal of preferential tariffs for the European market will result in advantages for India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar and other countries with more favourable rates. This would effectively reduce the market share for these production giants. Mainland China also represents a considerable export force in the market with its production of P. vannamei, but it too has had problems with the European market due to detection of banned antibiotic residues in its shrimp (as have Thailand, Viet Nam, Indonesia and India) and hence restrictions on imports.

5.4 Trade advantages and disadvantages with P. vannamei and P. stylirostris

The major markets have traditionally imported more cultured P. monodon than P. vannamei and P. stylirostris, primarily due to greater supply of the former. However, the USA market prefers white shrimp as consumers say it is sweeter. Moreover, Penaeus vannamei has a greater percentage of tail meat (at 66-68 percent) than P. monodon (at 62 percent). With the increasing importation of value-added products, P. vannamei can fill roles traditionally taken by P. monodon since there are no obvious differences between the two products after processing (TRFC website).

With the slow growth of major world shrimp markets in recent years, increasing emphasis will inevitably be placed on the domestic markets of the major shrimp producers. In Asia, now the fastest growing and biggest producer of P. vannamei, Mainland China and Taiwan Province of China already have high and established demands for white shrimp (75 and 100 percent of production consumed locally, respectively), since previous production of P. chinensis created a ready market. After initial hesitance, Thai shrimp processors are also willing to accept P. vannamei, for both domestic (primed for white shrimp by initial culture and capture of P. merguiensis and P. indicus) (20-30 percent in 2003) and export markets, primarily as processed product (70-80 percent of Thai production in 2003) (TRFC website).

The ability to grow P. vannamei in freshwater may also be an advantage in the USA market, based on results of a consumer acceptance test run by the UF/IFAS Food Science and Human Nutrition Department of the University of Florida. This study concluded that USA consumers preferred freshwater grown P. vannamei over those grown in brackish or salt water or harvested from the sea. This was due to better aroma, appearance, flavour and texture characteristics of freshwater grown shrimp. They stated that there was a strong consumer demand in the USA for a higher quality product than that currently available (UF/IFAS, 2003).

However, there are disadvantages to the culture of P. vannamei in that they do not normally grow as large as P. monodon and P. stylirostris and cannot access the lucrative market for larger sized shrimp which have a much higher price per kilo. In addition, when white shrimp production begins in Asian countries, processors are often reluctant to accept the product since they do not have marketing routes established.

For example, Thai processors did not accept or paid very low prices for P. vannamei until they identified marketing channels for them. Similarly, Malaysia is still without processors for P. vannamei and must send the product to Singapore or Thailand for processing (Dato Mohamed Shariff, per. com.).

If the culture of P. vannamei continues to grow in Asia, world production of this species will overtake that of all other shrimp species and will soon surpass the current market size. The inevitable result will be that prices will fall and there will be immense competition between Asian and Latin American producers with greater requirement for cost-cutting and enhanced efficiency. All of this will also be against a background of the current anti-dumping case of the USA shrimp fisherfolk and farmers.