May 14, 2007

China's shrimp exports continue to fall sharply

China's shrimp exports fell more than 40 percent the first quarter of the year compared to last year, continuing a trend that has seen steep drop in shrimp exports for the past few years.

Shrimp exports last year had already seen a steep drop from 42,865 tonnes in 2005 to 17,508 tonnes in 2006, according to figures from China Customs. This is compared to a 13.6 percent drop the year before and a 1.8 percent drop in 2004.

China exported 882 tonnes of shrimp meat valued at US$4.4 million in March 2007.

Export for the first three months reached 2,931 tonnes valued at US$16.7 million, down 44.8 percent and 41.2 percent on-year.