Argentinian shrimp catches have improved over the last two weeks, causing prices to drop from last month's record high. However, the price level remains supported, driven by a good Christmas demand in Europe, and catches this year still well below last year's level, industry sources told Undercurrent News.
Total catches in November were about 18% lower year on year at just over 10,000 metric tons since the frozen on land season started with a delay, government figures show. In December, catches are picking up, according to sources.
During the first half of last month, shrimp inventories were extremely low or non-existent and prices skyrocketed. With the start of the land-frozen season, prices have fallen somewhat.
"Over the last ten days, fishing has been good. A good quantity of shrimp appeared in the area and the yields are being good at the moment," an executive with a fishing firm in Argentina told Undercurrent on Nov. 15.
Available sizes have also improved since at the beginning of the season a majority of small sizes were being caught.
"As for size, fortunately, it improved a little, with a predominance of L2 and L3 and little L1," the first executive said. "This is why the L1 size is quite expensive at the moment, about $7.50/kg CFR. The other sizes are in the order of approximately $7.3-7.20 CFR," he noted.
Executives polled by Undercurrent expect a few good weeks of production and sales coming ahead. The development of the coronavirus crisis, however, causes some uncertainty on the outlook.
"The demand remains good at Christmas in Europe. We don't know what the outlook is for Q1 but the sales of the frozen on land campaign are going well and in good demand," an executive with another Argentinian firm said.
"The product caught until January has been sold and then we will have to see how the whole COVID-19 issue goes in Europe," the first executive added.
December 18, 2020 at 12:16AM
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Argentinian shrimp catches improve; prices drop from last month's high - Undercurrent News
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