Exploring the Turkish wild-caught shrimp value chain

The Republic of Türkiye is one of the main producers of wild-caught shrimp in the Mediterranean. Shrimp fisheries are concentrated in the Marmara Sea, along the Aegean and Mediterranean coasts. Shrimp landings peaked to over 6 000 tonnes in 2005 and since then have been stable at around 5 000 tonnes per year (Figure 1). Based on first sale prices, the total value of shrimp landings was nearly US$ 23 million in 2021, generated by some 760 fishing vessels.

Despite the importance of Turkish shrimp fisheries within the Mediterranean region and for the local economy, no study on shrimp value chain in Türkiye has been performed to date. To fill this gap, a wild-caught shrimp value chain analysis in Türkiye is being carried out within the scope of the Sustainable Fisheries and Aquaculture Value Chains for the Mediterranean (SVC4MED) project in close collaboration with the Turkish Ministry of Agriculture and Forest-MoAF (Directorate of Fisheries and Aquatic Products) and Central Union of Fisheries Cooperative (SÜR-KOOP). The analysis aims to explore and assess the challenges to the economic, environmental and social sustainability of the Turkish wild shrimp value chain in depth, as well as to provide a vision and a set of strategies to upgrade and improve the performance of the Turkish wild shrimp value chain.

The development of effective upgrading strategies is reliant on the analysis of primary and secondary data from all value chain actors (fishers, middlemen/commissioners/wholesalers, processors, exporters, and retailers) and their enabling environment. In addition to detailed data on vessels and fishermen provided by Turkstat and Turkish Ministry of Agriculture and Forests, 76 face-to face interviews with core value chain actors and key informants were completed in the Mediterranean, Aegean and Marmara sea regions in the summer months of 2022. Some of the preliminary findings indicate that:

• There are 6 important commercial shrimp species caught in Turkish marine fisheries (Table 1).  However, two of the species are grouped into a single category “Red shrimp”, due inability of fishermen to differentiate between them, and thus wild shrimp landings appear as five species in official fisheries statistics. 

• Based on domestic production, export and import figures released by Turkstat, Türkiye is a net importer of shrimp products. Malaysia, India, Iran, Vietnam, and Egypt are the five top suppliers, while Italy, Spain, Greece Iraq, and Holland are the major export markets for Turkish shrimp products.
• Domestic Per capita consumption of shrimp products in Türkiye varied between 0.060-0.085 kg between 2012-2021. In 2021 domestic per capita was 0.074 kg. 
• Data collected from fishers in the Mediterranean and Aegean so far reveal that sales through commissioners are the main distribution channel for wild shrimp. These commissioners are also generally wholesalers. Since commissioners are also the main source for finance for fishers during closed season, they also turn to be the ones who determine the prices. Wholesalers procure shrimp directly from fishers. 
• Being the main production cost item, increasing fuel prices is the main source of concern for fishers. Some fishers believe that under existing fuel prices fishing operations are not viable.
• Processing companies are generally export-oriented. The share of supermarkets and HORECA is much smaller compared to export markets.
• Green tiger prawn (Jumbo karides in Turkish) is mainly consumed domestically in hotels and restaurants