Ecuador shrimp processors riding high on China demand Shrimp buyers in China are increasingly looking to Ecuador, as a supply shortfall buyers foresaw coming months ago hits hard. Ecuadorean shrimp producers have increased production, with the total volume expected to rise 7% this year, from 205,000 metric tons in 2012 to an expected 220,000t this year, Jose Antonio Camposono, director of Ecuador’s National Aquaculture Chamber, told Undercurrent News. Ecuador has managed to pull off this production increase through its own initiative, indicated Francisco Murillo, chief business development officer for Regal Springs, told Undercurrent. Many tilapia producers in Ecuador have been converting their farms to shrimp, he said. Ecuadoreans have a wealth of new customers from China these days, Sandro Coglitore, general manager for the Ecuadorean shrimp supplier Omarsa, told to Undercurrent. “Definitely China is taking away all the shrimp,” Coglitore said, speaking in a bit of hyperbole. Currrently, 50% of the volume Omarsa produces goes to China, up from 40% last year, and Cogliatore expects the proportion to increase to 60-65% by the end of the year, and the company has only been selling to China for three years. The total volume of sales to China will increase even more than those numbers suggest, considering that the total company’s total production volume is poised to rise 15% this year. Coglitore attributes this year’s rise to a demand increase brought on by the spread of early mortality syndrome (EMS), the shrimp disease sweeping Southeast Asia and China, but recognizes there are clearly other factors at work. The rapid rise of China’s middle class has boosted sales for years. Between 2010 and 2011, sales to China rose from 10% of total sales to 40% of total sales on increased demand. Buyers clamor for product Chinese buyers are now looking for any shrimp they can get their hands on, Coglitore said. Earlier in the year, Chinese buyers only wanted large sizes, but at this point, they want all sizes “after the domestic crop came out worse than expected”. High mortality rates in China have quieted earlier suppositions that the country could make up for Thailand’s shortfall this year. Prices have reacted accordingly, going up for all sizes by $0.30 to $0.40 in the past two weeks, Coglitore said. “We get eight to 10 requests for shrimp every day from new buyers,” he said, “directly through our Beijing office we opened in 2011″. He estimates prices have yet to reach the ceiling. “We expect important price increases for the second semester due to failed crops in Asia and Mexico and high demand from all markets,” he said.
Posted on: Mon, 17 Jun 2013 02:22:18 +0000
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