Shrimp exports to the US to increase

The decline was because of low shrimp demand from the U.S. Sharp appreciation of US dollar against other currencies encouraged shrimp exporters to boost exporting to the U.S. which caused high pressure on Vietnam shrimp price. Shrimp demand of the US was quiet since Jan 2015 due to high inventory in 2014.  

Shrimp price from Vietnam to the US declined by US$ 1.5 - 2/kg comparing to the same period in 2014.

It was revealed by National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) that shrimp import volumes into the United States were 8% up, to 268,402 MT in for the first half of the year, from 248,236 MT last year.  Meanwhile, import value declined by 14.7%, from US$ 3.05 billion last year to US$ 2.6 billion this year. Average price decreased by 21%, from US$ 12.28/kg last year to US$ 9.68/kg this year.

In June alone, import volume was 8,531 MT, down 6.8% while value US$ 59.5 million, down 27%.

This can be explained by the control of early mortality syndrome (EMS). Hard-hit countries such as Thailand increased exports to ramp-up with other countries.  

Imports from Thailand this year valued over 31,152 MT, up 18%. Those from India increased from 40,666 MT last year to 55,617 MT this year. And those from Indonesia increased to 59,009 MT this year. Imports from Ecuador decreased from 45,089 MT to 46,653 MT last year.

Shell-on shrimp imports into the US including easy peel climbed 9.4% in June 2015 and jumped 14.3% in the first 6 months of this year. In June 2015, imports of 31-40 were higher, those of 41-50 were lower. Imports of 16-20 count shrimp were up 101.5% y-o-y and 21-25 count shrimp were up 76.6%. Peeled imports, mostly from India, Indonesia, Ecuador and Thailand, were up 19.5% y-o-y and up 1.1% comparing to the result of first half of 2014. Imports of cooked shrimp were down 3% in H1 and those for breaded shrimp were up.

On 3 March 2015, US Department of Commerce (DOC) announced preliminary results of the ninth anti-dumping duty administrative reviews on certain frozen shrimp imported from Viet Nam. The period of review (POR) is 1 February 2013 through 31 January 2014. The average duty rate would be 0.93 percent, much lower than 6.37 percent of POR8. If these preliminary results are retained in the final results expected to be announced in July or August, Viet Nam shrimp exports to the U.S. in the second half of the year would be better.

TPP to be signed in the future will create a lot of advantages for Vietnam in the U.S. market on par with other suppliers which haven’t signed the similar agreement with the US.  

Thanks to higher shrimp demand from the U.S. since late July and positive factors on shrimp supply and final result of POR9, Vietnam shrimp exports to the U.S. in the second half of the year is expected to recover from that of the first half of the year. However, the growth is slight because the value of USD is still high and strong competitiveness in shrimp price in the market. In the last 6 months of 2015, shrimp sales to the U.S. are expected to reach US$375 million, down 30 percent year on year. Predictably, shrimp sales to the market in 2015 will reach US$638 million, down 40 percent year on year.