China, ASEAN the key growth shrimp markets in future

Shrimp in a wet market in Beijing, China. (Teh Eng Koon/AFP/Getty Images)

China and the ASEAN countries are set to be the most important growth markets for shrimp in the coming years, noted Pham Anh Tuan, former deputy general director of the directorate of fisheries.

Recent shrimp sector workshops have suggested farmed shrimp production globally will increase by 4.2% per year until 2020, he said. Consumption is expected to rise by between 3.5% and 5% globally.

Japan, the US and EU are estimated to increase their demand by just 3%. However, Russia, China, Korea and other Southeast Asian nations should see far more rapid consumption growth; 14% per year in the case of China, and 44% in Russia, apparently driven by the expanding middle class there.

China claimed to produce 1.6 million metric tons of shrimp in 2016 — a figure Tuan doubted — but based on this, and consumption growth, he estimated the country would see a production shortfall of 743,000t by 2020.

From January to June 2017, total Vietnamese exports to the Chinese market reached a value of $516.8m; $282.9m in shrimp, and $171.4m in pangasius, according to data from Vasep (the Vietnamese Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers).

“At the moment the US is the top importer of Vietnamese seafood, but I would expect China to become number one in the future,” said Yang Yong, of Guanzhou Nutriera Biotechnology.