Chinese shrimp producer Zhanjiang Evergreen Aquatic Product expects to only export “a few tons” next year as a result of the raw material shortage, said a company manager.
Evergreen is already cutting its exports in 2013, from around 1,800 metric tons last year, to only around 1,300t, said Liang Chaorong, manager-assistant at the company.
In 2014, this is likely to tumble to just 500-600t, he said.
In contrast, the group expects to sell 5,000-6,000t domestically from its own factories next year, up from 3,500t this year. The remaining 20,000-30,000t that its farms harvest is sold to third party plants.
“We will cut the export business from next year, and focus on the domestic,” Chaorong told Undercurrent News.
Chaorong cited the impact of early mortality syndrome (EMS), as well as high shrimp seed prices in Zhanjiang, as reasons for the drop.
China’s shrimp harvest is expected to drop by around 30% this year, due to EMS as well as poor weather including repeated typhoons in areas including Zhanjiang.
The shrimp raw material situation has “no chance” of getting any better next year, so farmers will use more antibiotics to prevent the shrimp from dying, said Chaorong. This, in turn, will make it impossible to export to markets where the use of antibiotics is limited or prohibited, such as Japan, the US and Canada.
In addition, negotiations between Zhanjiang and Shrimp Improvement Systems, the Florida, US-based company which supplies a large amount of shrimp postlarvae to the Chinese region, failed to reach an agreement this year, said Chaorong.
Farmers tried to negotiate the price downwards, citing a drop in quality, he said, and the parties failed to agree on a price.
A deal will have to be sealed by April next year in time for the next farming season, he said.
Both Evergreen and Zhanjiang Guolian Aquatic Products (Guolian) – considered to be China’s largest shrimp producer — had toldUndercurrent at the China Fisheries & Seafood Expo in Dalian in early November that they were in the process of cutting exports in favor of domestic sales.
Evergreen describes itself as a $1 billion-turnover group, owning hatcheries, farms, plants as well as fish and shrimp feed mills.