2004 a strong year for world shrimp trade

摘要

Boosted by strong farmed shrimp production, key markets including the USA, Japan, Spain, France, UK and Italy imported more shrimp in volume terms during 2004 than in any previous year. Total volume imports for the USA, Japan together with the five main European shrimp markets passed the 1.2 million tonnes mark last year for the first time following a 4% increase on 2003. Perhaps the bad news for many shrimp producers was that these increases did not often translate into comparable revenue increases.With the weak price trend of 2003 continuing into 2004, shrimp import values last year for the USA, Japan, Spain, France and Italy were all down on the previous year. In addition to a subdued economic climate in euro markets, the weaker dollar during 2004 was also a major influence in the fall in euro import values.