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August
shrimp exports to U.S. drop 30 percent
The volume of shrimp
exported to the United States in August dropped
30 percent compared to the same month last year,
according to statistics released Thursday by
the National Marine Fisheries Service.
For the first eight
months of 2004, the volume of U.S. shrimp imports-
666.4 million pounds - still exeeds the volume
of shrimp for the same period last year, but
only by 2.7 percent. However, the value of shrimp
imports for the January-August period was estimated
at $2.1 billion, down 6.7 percent compared to
the value of imports for the same period last
year.
The volume of shell-on
shrimp imports fell 36 percent to 40.3 million
pounds in August. For the first eight months
of 2004, shell-on import volumes are reported
to 333.5 million pounds - just1.3 million pounds
more than the same period last year.
In 2003, more than
1.1 billion pounds of shrimp products worth $3.8
billion were imported to the U.S. market, up
15 percent in volume and 9 percent in value compared
to the previous year.
On July 6, the administration
said shrimp is being dumped by China and Vietnam
and ordered tariffs on product from China ranging
8 percent to 113 percent and from Vietnam ranging
12 percent to 93 percent.
Later that month,
the U.S. Department of Commerce then levied tariffs
against shrimp from Thailand, Ecuador, Brazil
and India, with margins ranging from 0 percent
to 67.8 percent for Brazil; 6.1 percent to 9.4
percent for Ecuador; 3.6 percent to 27.5 percent
for India; and 5.6 percent to 10.3 percent for
Thailand.
Chinese shrimp imports
declined by 74 percent to 6.5 million pounds
in August compared to the same month in 2003.
Year-to-date, Chinese shrimp imports are off
12.7 percent - to 74.3 million pounds - reversing
a surge of product to the U.S. market in recent
years. China was the second largest shrimp exporter
to the U.S. market last year. Total Chinese shrimp
import volumes in 2003 were pegged at 178.6 million
pounds.
Indonesian shrimp
imports have already exceeded the total volume
recorded for all of 2003 in the first 8 months
of this year. More than 59.5 millio pounds have
been shipped to the U.S. market from the Southeast
Asian nation - that's up 42.5 percent. For the
month of August, Indonesian shrimp imports more
than doubled with 10.5 million pounds entering
the U.S. market that month.
from The Wave October
15, 2004 |
