Opportunities seen in shrimp export to the US market

Seasonal harvest peak in India is about to end, while in Vietnam harvest time is coming. 

On 3rd March 2015, US Department of Commerce (DOC) announced preliminary results of of the ninth anti-dumping duty administrative reviews on certain frozen shrimp imported from Vietnam. The period of review (POR) is 1st February 2013 through 31st January 2014. The average tax rate  would be 0.93%, from 6.37% of POR8. If these preliminary results are retained in the final results, the condition for Vietnam shrimp exports to the US would be better.

A strong dollar resulted in higher purchasing power. The US increased shrimp imports. Vietnam was the fastest growing supplier of breaded shrimp to this market.

In the first quarter of the year, over 135,000 MT of shrimp was imported into the US, reaching the value of US$ 1.4 billion. Frozen breaded shrimp imports increased by 11% to reach 11,737 MT in volume and US$ 94.7 million in value.

Imports from Vietnam reported a surge of 50% to 1,491 MT. In terms of vaue, it is 42% increase to US$ 11.9 million. Meanwhile, imports from China down 10% to US$ 45.6 million. Imports from Thailand, on the other hand, remained stable with US$ 22.1 million.

Besides, imports of frozen shelled shrimp into the US grew to 54,984 MT, reporting the value of US$ 551.4 million, up 17% in volume and 5% in value. 

Frozen warm water shrimp imports reached 47,215 MT with the value of US$ 501 million in the first quarter, down 9% in volume and 26% in value over the same period last year.