The shrimp complex generally carries a full steady to firm tone although demand is characterized by most as dull. Replacement offerings from many areas continue firm.
August shrimp imports, released today, indicate a sharp decline of 23% month over month while YTD imports moved to 3% lower. When referring to August imports, the meaning is month over month or August 2011 vs August 2012. Year-to-date (YTD) is all the months including August compared to the previous year.
All of the major shrimp supplying countries were down double digits except for Ecuador down 8% and India down 5.2%. Thailand, our largest supplier, recorded a decline in August of 32% leaving YTD imports 23% lower. Ecuador, India, Indonesia and Mexico imports are all higher YTD but were lower in August.
HLSO including easy peel shrimp imports were down 18.4% for August; YTD imports remain slightly higher. Indonesia did record significantly higher HLSO imports in August but most supplying countries were down. Also significant are the declines in August imports of 31-40 count and smaller shrimp while 26-30 count and large posted gains. YTD imports follow a similar pattern.
Peeled shrimp imports for August were 19% lower; the only country posting a month over month gain was Ecuador.
Imports of cooked shrimp continued a sharp slide with August imports down 42% while YTD imports are down almost 20%.