GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Global shrimp production is recovering from a challenging disease, a University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences professor says.

Based on an annual survey of shrimp industry leaders, global farmed shrimp production fell 14 percent from 2011 to 2013, caused mainly by the devastating disease known as early mortality syndrome, said James Anderson, a UF/IFAS professor of food and resource economics and director of the UF Institute for Sustainable Food Systems. The disease caused by bacteria, was first reported in Asia in 2009, and has resulted in high mortalities in the shrimp-farming industry, especially in Thailand, China, Malaysia and Vietnam.

But shrimp is bouncing back, with production expected to return to 2011 levels this year, Anderson said. He projected an average annual growth rate of over 7 percent from 2013 through 2017. From 2006 to 2011, the annual growth rate for shrimp was approximately 6 percent, according to Anderson’s numbers.

“It is notoriously difficult to get timely and accurate numbers on global shrimp production, since the industry is mostly located in the developing countries, many of which do not have resources to collect the data in detail,” Anderson said.

Notably, the industry figures reported by Anderson differ from the 6.3 percent increase between 2011 and 2013 reported by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). However, Anderson pointed out that prices increased rapidly between 2011 and 2013 – up over 20 percent in some markets, which is consistent with the industry responses that shrimp production declined.

Shrimp are the most-consumed seafood in the United States, and more of them mean lower prices – U.S. prices are now down more than 25 percent from the highs in 2013 — and a more plentiful supply of a higher-value protein for consumers. But more shrimp also means tough competition for the U.S. shrimp fishing industry, said Anderson, who is also affiliated with the UF Emerging Pathogens Institute.

As for near-term production, smaller shrimp are expected to increase in supply as producers attempt to minimize disease risk, said Anderson, who previously led the World Bank’s Global Program on Fisheries and Aquaculture.

When all the data are available, U.S. shrimp imports are expected to have increased 4 percent in 2015, he said.

The U.S. imports about 90 percent of its shrimp, Anderson said. In fact, in 2014, the U.S. imported 626,000tons of shrimp valued at nearly $6.7 billion, he said. Thailand was the No. 1 supplier of shrimp to the U.S. throughout the 2000s until 2012, but by 2015, it dropped to No. 5, primarily due to early mortality syndrome, Anderson said.

U.S. imports from Thailand have declined sharply since peaking in 2010 at 224,000 tons. In 2014, Thai shrimp imports hit their lowest point in the last 15 years at 72,000 tons, but they have started to recover partially, to 79,000 tons, Anderson said.

Other leading countries supplying the U.S. are India, Indonesia, Ecuador, Vietnam, China, Mexico and Malaysia. India, Indonesia and Ecuador have increased their shipments and become the top exporters to the U.S. market.

Anderson made his remarks in a presentation he delivered in October at the Global Outlook for Aquaculture Leaders (GOAL) Conference in Vancouver, Canada. He has given this presentation on global shrimp production to seafood industry leaders for more than 15 years.

Respondents to Anderson’s survey are leaders in the shrimp aquaculture industry or representatives of seafood trade associations. Industry leaders value it to because the estimates for current and expected global shrimp production are considered by many to be timely and the best available, Anderson said.

You can see Anderson’s full speech here: http://bit.ly/1YahDxz.

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Caption: Global shrimp production is recovering from a challenging disease and should return to 2011 levels this year, said James Anderson, UF/IFAS professor of food and resource economics. Anderson made his remarks in a presentation he delivered in October at the Global Outlook for Aquaculture Leaders (GOAL) Conference in Vancouver, Canada.

Credit: UF/IFAS Photo: Tyler Jones.

By: Brad Buck, 352-294-3303, bradbuck@ufl.edu

Source: James Anderson, 352-294-7697, james.anderson@ufl.edu

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