The import of shrimp increased in early 2021 with the increase of the importer’s inventory during Chinese New Year, but it is still much lower than the 2020 high. Consumers still have concerns about covid-19 during this Chinese new year.
According to China’s updated trade data, in the first two months of 2021, China imported more than 90,000 tons of shrimp products, of which 61,000 tons were imported in January and 29,000 tons in February. In addition, China also imported 6,700 tons of cold water shrimp. The total value of imports is 488 million U.S. dollars.
The import volume of frozen warm water shrimp has dropped by 30% compared to the same period in 2020. In three months, the value of imports has also decreased by 460 million U.S. dollars (it was 1.196 billion U.S. dollars from December to February 2019-2020, and 736 million U.S. dollars from December to February 2020-2021).
This also explains the decline of export prices from Ecuador and other countries in recent years. The average unit price of China’s imports in February was only US$5.19 per kilogram, a 14% drop from February 2020.
Judging from the supply of each country, in January and February, Ecuador supplied 63,000 tons of shrimp imports to China, followed by India, which supplied 11,000 tons. The next suppliers are Vietnam (2,500 tons), Saudi Arabia (2,300 tons), Argentina (2,000 tons) and Thailand (1,800 tons).
