India finished out 2013 as the top shrimp supplier to the United States, carrying on the lead it gained on the US’s typical top supplier – Thailand – in August of last year.
India’s shrimp exports to the US totaled 94,211 metric tons in 2013, up 12% over Thailand’s total exports of 84,148t and 26% over Ecuador’s exports of 74,525t.
Thailand was the second largest US shrimp exporter, while Indonesia took third place with 81,098t, Ecuador fourth and Vietnam lagging in fifth with 59,534t. Vietnam – while well behind Ecuador in total exports – rounded out the year with a 45% increase in US exports.
India’s total US export increase for the year of 42% was not even as great Vietnam’s, although its surge into the top US shrimp exporter slot was perhaps more significant. Thailand, meanwhile, saw its total US exports drop 38%, from 135,550t in 2012 to 83,600t in 2013.
India’s exports to the US were up every single month of the year in 2013 except for November, when exports hit a lull, decreasing 12%, from 8,552t in 2012 to 7,523t in 2013. Sandwiched around that month, however, were two very successful months. In October, exports were up 32%, from 8,436t in 2012 to 11,195, and in December, the country exported 8,582t of product, up 17% over the prior year’s 7,308.
India’s exports to the US first surpassed those of Thailand in April, when it hit 6,340t; slightly outdoing Thailand’s exports of 6,128t that month.
Its lead on Thailand grew as the summer hit, and Thai production nearly halved in August, decreasing to 5,638t in 2013, down from 12,583 – a 121% drop.
Production has improved meagerly since then. In December, Thailand’s exports to the United States hit 7,317t, down 92% from the prior year’s 7,317t.
India production wallops
Contrary to pervasive concerns in the industry, stated to Undercurrent News all year in 2013, India’s huge production surge did not result in the disease proliferation and production collapse that many feared.
Instead, the country’s April-December total export figures soared, with earnings increasing 89.9% and the share of total seafood export earnings growing to 65.4%, up from 51.5% the prior year, reports the Business Standard.