Chinese direct shrimp imports from Ecuador overtake Argentina

Argentine red shrimps Credit: Alibaba

Ecuador has replaced Argentina as China’s number one origin of direct shrimp imports with its farmed vannamei, after a decrease in China's direct imports of Argentine red shrimp by almost half.

Edit: Export data from Argentine customs shared with Undercurrent News shows that shrimp exports to China are only down by 15%, rather than half. It would mean Argentina is still likely China's largest direct supplier of shrimp.

In the first 10 months of this year, China imported 13,174t of shrimp from Ecuador, up 13% year-on-year, according to latest Chinese customs data (HS Code 030617). But, bucking the trend of huge yearly increases of previous years, in the first 10 months of this year China imported 12,221 metric tons of Argentine shrimp, down 42% y-o-y. 

Overall, Chinese direct shrimp imports for the period were down 5% y-o-y to 47,614t, while total value was $356.5 million, down 3% y-o-y. 

Speaking to Undercurrent News, a source at a Chinese firm which imports Argentine shrimp and also owns a shrimp fishing firm in Argentina, said sales of Argentine shrimp at his firm are relatively stable, but he reckoned providing a picture for China as a whole is difficult.

“I’m just one small company in China’s huge market. Our company’s data doesn’t represent what’s going on in the country and I don’t know what’s going on in China as a whole, whether imports are increasing or decreasing… As regards our company sales are pretty stable.”

Source: Undercurrent News/ Chinese customs data

He said his firm had no special plans to buy in extra product for Chinese New Year, for which Chinese tend to stock up. "We don't do any special preparations, things will stay pretty much normal," he said.

Earlier this month, Argentine sources told Undercurrent China would buy 40,000t of Argentine shrimp this year, up from 32,600t last year, according to International Trade Center (ITC), based on Argentine customs data. Since August this year, exports to the country have rocketed, sources said.

Chinese customs may be under-reporting imports of shrimp from Argentina or categorizing imports under a different harmonized system code. It's also possible that large quantities of shrimp were en route to China prior to China's latest import figures.

Another possibility is Chinese traders are holding more Argentine shrimp in bonded warehouses. Only when product is moved from bonded warehouses is it registered as an import. From December 1, Chinese imports of shrimp will benefit from 3% lower import duties. 

These potentialities are supported by data from Argentina's Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos (INDEC). According to INDEC, Argentina exported 22,241t of shrimp to China in the nine months to September, down just 15% y-o-y.

International Trade Center also lists 30 different reasons why there might be a difference between customs' houses data. 

In recent years Chinese seafood companies have flooded into Argentina to buy the country’s wild-caught shrimp. Coupled with an increase in landings, Argentina’s shrimp exports have surged above value exports of the country’s signature agricultural product, beef.