Karl Stromsta
September 30. 2008
IntraFish is proud to present its first ever industry report on the €29 billion global shrimp trade – an industry that already accounts for 17 percent of seafood export revenues, and shows every sign of continued growth.
Part of the industry’s growth can be attributed to greater availability of shrimp in developed markets around the world. Shrimp production is up 80 percent since 1995, with massive gains coming from both the wild-caught and farmed sectors. Shrimp is the most consumed seafood in the United States, and recently Europe has emerged as the most promising market with solid growth notched in nearly every country. While European consumers’ hunger for shrimp deserves part of the credit for the boom, so too do the soft economies in the United States and Japan, which have dragged down consumption.
Western markets are no longer alone in driving the shrimp boom. Consumption in China has grown tenfold in the last decade, and Brazilian consumers are also keen to spend newfound wealth on homegrown shrimp that would once have been sent abroad without a second thought.
The report charts not only the major markets for shrimp, but also the key producers and the challenges they face. It also tackles the issue of species – one of the most important dynamics roiling the shrimp industry. More than 200 species of shrimp currently under cultivation, but with each year the number grows smaller as consolidation sweeps the industry and producers focus ever more intently on the handful of species that are easiest to grow and most desired by affluent consumers. 2008 looks like it will be the year to mark an important milestone for the shrimp industry – when sales of warm water prawns first exceed those of coldwater prawns. Around the world the coldwater prawn industry is under siege, having priced itself down to a point where most producers have turned their focus elsewhere.
Sustainability and eco-labels are another trend the Global Shrimp Outlook investigates. Like other segments of the seafood industry, shrimp producers and consumers are being buried under a mountain of new eco certification schemes. In 2007 Oregon’s pink shrimp trawl fishery became the world’s first prawn fishery to receive Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification, but there are contenders waiting in the wings.
Recruitment