The latest statistics from the Ecuadorian Aquaculture Chamber of Commerce show that in the first quarter of 2021 (January-March), the Chinese market imported a total of 57,200 tons of frozen vannamei shrimp (including headless shrimp and head-on shell-on shrimp). This is a decrease of 38% compare with same period of 2020. In January 2021, Ecuador exported 12,748 tons of vannamei shrimp to China, down 57% year-on-year, with an average unit price of 5.2 $/kg; in February 2021, Ecuador exported 19,129 tons China, down 42% year-on-year, with an average unit price of 4.78 $/kg; in March 2021, Ecuador exported 25,300 tons to China, down 15% year-on-year.
In fact, the decline in the import volume of Ecuadorian vannamei in the first quarter of 2021 can be regarded as a reasonable fall. In 2020, affected by pandemic, many Chinese importers made wrong judgments and placed big orders at low prices in the first half of the year. When the goods arrived, the Chinese imported frozen product market became sluggish due to the fact that the virus was found in the outer packaging, and a large number of goods were backlogged in the cold storage.
Comparing the import data in the first quarter of 2021 with the one of 2019, both curves are very similar. This shows that China’s white shrimp industry is gradually returning to normal, and practitioners will be more rational.
In addition, from the comparison of the data in January, February and March, the year-on-year decline in March was the smallest, which shows that the confidence of Chinese importers has gradually recovered.
