Pacific white shrimp has earned its place as the most popular shrimp product exported to Europe due to its high availability and relatively low price. However, this also means that many countries are competing for market access. The top exporters of Pacific white shrimp to the European Market to watch out for are Ecuador and other South and Central American countries, including Peru, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Cuba, as well as Vietnam and India.

South and Central American suppliers are associated with extensive production of high-quality shrimp by well-organized companies with professional teams in charge, they often associate Asian suppliers with complicated supply chains, quality risks, and sometimes with unreliable business partners. However, due to the high cost of labour, South and Central American suppliers are unable to complete with Asian Suppliers on the price of peeled and value-added products. Under the European Free Trade Agreement, Ecuador and Peru are able to export shrimp to Europe at 0% duty.

Additionally, in accordance with the European Union’s organic aquaculture regulation, shrimp can be certified as organic only if the species to the native country. Therefore, Asian suppliers are unable to produce Pacific white shrimp.

Due to labour being more affordable Vietnamese suppliers export peeled and value-added products, including raw frozen and cooked frozen products. Vietnam has the widest availability of ASC-certified products and is the preferred country of origin for European supermarkets. However, prices in Vietnam are still higher than in India. However, Vietnam had now signed a free trade agreement with Europe, allowing for import tariffs to be reduced to 0% by 2024.

India is a rapidly expanding source of shrimp exports and have doubled or almost tripled their export volumes during the past five to ten years. Although India offers the lowest price, the rapid expansion of shrimp farming has created management issues for Indian Authorities. Several containers have been rejected due to antibiotic use. Failure to sufficiently address these issues has resulted in India having 50% checks at European ports during the past two years, which has in turn led to ten Indian exporters losing their European Union approval.

Additionally, European buyers are also looking at other countries such as Philippines, Malaysia and other South and Central America.

To increase your level of competition in the market, you can study the websites of major Pacific white shrimp exporters in different countries to  better understand how they present themselves and who is managing the companies, which can  in turn help you present your unique selling points to potential buyers. Even more can be learned by engaging with your competitors at trade shows to get to know the challenges faced and opportunities available to them.

Read the full article here (cbi.eu – 1^st April 2020)

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