In the second half of 2020, when imported frozen products were found to be carrying virus, Chinese consumers’ confidence in seafood was greatly reduced, causing China’s shrimp imports to plummet. The global shrimp industry is expected to lose 1.3 billion US dollars in the Chinese market.
In the second half of 2020, China’s direct imports of warm water shrimp dropped by 48% year-on-year to 205,000 tons. The total value of imports fell 54% to 1.12 billion U.S. dollars; it was 2.42 billion U.S. dollars in the same period of 2019.
In December 2020, China imported 43,700 tons of frozen warm-water shrimp; it increased compared to November, but it was down 50% year-on-year, indicating that the virus continues to affect consumer confidence.
In 2019, China was the world’s second largest single importer of shrimp, second only to the United States. However, in 2020, China’s total imports affected by virus fell by 16% year-on-year to 544,000 tons, which blocked the substantial increase in shrimp imports in previous years.
Major shrimp producing countries in Asia have also been severely affected. In the second half of 2020, China imported 45,000 tons from India (down 52% year on year), 11,700 tons from Vietnam (down 55% year on year), and 7,800 tons from Thailand (down 54% year on year). Imports from Saudi Arabia, the largest supplier in the Middle East, fell to 1,900 tons, down 69% year-on-year. Shrimp imports directly from Ecuador fell 45% year-on-year to 113,500 tons.
