According to China's latest Customs data, China's shrimp imports reached a record of 1.1 million tons of shrimp in 2023, up 13% compared to 2022. However, consumption in the second half of the year was quite slow, down 10%. % in volume and 25% in value
Falling volumes and prices caused the value of shrimp imports into China in the second half of 2023 to only record 2.9 billion USD, nearly 1 billion USD less than the same period in 2022 (3.8 billion USD). For the whole year 2023, China imported 1.1 million tons of shrimp, becoming the first country in the world with an import level of up to 7 figures.
Mr. Fan Xubing, Head of Beijing Seafood Marketing and Consulting Department, said: “Normally, once global prices fall sharply, demand will increase, and total volume and value will also increase. But in 2023, in the context of a stagnant economy, especially in the last 6 months of the year, this principle is no longer true."
This is clearly shown in the purchasing power of December 2023 being significantly slower even though this is close to the Lunar New Year. Data shows that this month China imported only 70,618 tons of shrimp, worth 365 million USD, down 27% in volume and 37% in value compared to the same period last year. This is contrary to optimistic predictions in early 2023 for China's shrimp consumption post-Covid.
Ecuador has a clear difference in increasing volume but decreasing value of shrimp exports to China. In total, in 2023, Ecuador exports 697,102 tons of shrimp to China, an increase of 23%; But because the price decreased by 19% to 5.09 USD/kg, the export value only reached 3.5 billion USD.
India, Argentina, Thailand, and Saudi Arabia also increased their export volumes to China, but average prices decreased significantly.
In contrast, the average price of shrimp imports from Vietnam to China increased by 23%, mainly thanks to higher prices of black tiger shrimp. Therefore, although the export volume decreased by 72%, the average import price increased to 8.00 USD/kg. Along with that, Malaysian shrimp imports into China increased in both volume and value, reaching 7,471 tons, worth 60 million USD; The average price reached 8.09 USD/kg.
Mr. Xubing believes that China has passed the worst phase of the economic crisis; However, some other opinions believe that there are still too many hardships ahead.
