India is one of the countries most affected by the Covid crisis. With this situation, India is expected to reduce the supply of vannamei shrimp in the coming months. Many importers in the main markets of the US and EU wonder if any country can replace this supply.

According to Jeff Sedacca, CEO of importer Sunnyvale Seafood, USA: India sets strict standards when it comes to supplying shrimp to the US market and with current volumes, there is no shrimp producing country in this planet is replaceable in the short term. Although Ecuador has done a great job in meeting needs that India cannot supply, Ecuador will nevertheless have its limits.

What is the core problem causing shrimp shortage in India? It’s not about the production, as the harvest in the main shrimp farming state of Andhra Pradesh is still normal, although a few places harvested early last month. It is during the impact of the Covid epandemic, many processing plants have to work at less than half capacity, along with container delays and high shipping costs that make them financially tight. Lack of labor makes more and more shrimp still have shells and unprocessed, exporting raw shrimp to other markets such as Vietnam for reprocessing before exporting to the US is also difficult for every company in the shortage of containers.

Even if Indian shrimp producers succeed in purchasing containers, there will be a shortage of bigger size shrimp – which are favored in the US, this summer. As Jim Gulkin – founder of Siam Canadian, based in Thailand noted.
Dutch market analyst Seafood TIP said buyers have started looking for alternative suppliers, including Vietnam – where a free trade agreement with the EU will make imports more favorable.

However, Gulkin affirmed: Vietnam’s shrimp production this year will be higher than last year, Indonesia’s shrimp production is good, Thailand may increase a bit, but all is not an increase enough to replace the this shortage.

By Tracy (Business Team)

(Reference: undercurrentnews.com)