54 September 2009 gravid females, then the eggs are hatched in ponds or other enclosures. But there is often a shortage of wild females and they command a very high price. Although more than 50 countries reported to FAO that they cultivate shrimp, 11 countries cultivate 92.3 percent of the total amount produced (Table 5). The production of shrimp in aquaculture facilities is profitable for the developing countries. The value of the total production over the last 20 years is shown in Figure 7. The Shrimp Trade Worldwide shrimp production seems to increase yearly. As a consequence of the increasing demand from many countries, especially the USA, Japan and the EU, the export of this commodity exceeded two million t in 2004 (Figure 8). Since 1976, exports have increased from a little more than 300,000 t to the present figure of about two million t. In 1983, exports totalled 500,000 t, while five years later it was one million t. The level of 1.5 million t was reached by 2000 and only four years later it exceeded two million t. There are, in general, developing countries that contribute to exports. Among them are China, India, Indonesia, Thailand and Viet Nam in Asia. From South America, Ecuador is the most prominent exporter. In total, there are more than 125 countries that export shrimp to the world market. The huge export trade in shrimp generates significant income for many developing countries. The export value was more than US$12 billion in 2004 (Figure 9). From 1976 to 1986 the annual export value was less than US$5 billion. During the period 1987 to 1994 there was a rapid increase in the export value from US$5 billion to US$10 billion, reaching a plateau for some years. This indicates that the very high production during the later years depressed the prices for the export countries. In 2004, just over two million t of shrimp were exported. Of this quantity, 85 percent was exported by the 20 most prominent countries (Table 6), with a value of US$11.8 billion (Table 7). Each of the two countries, Thailand and China, exported more than 200,000 t and another five countries exported more than 100 000 t. They were India, Denmark, Viet Nam, Indonesia and Greenland. More than 100 countries exported only a total of 15 percent of shrimp on the world market. Some countries exported shrimp and also import them. According to the FAO statistics, shrimp are sold as breaded frozen, canned, peeled fresh/dried/salted/brine, peeled frozen, shell-on fresh/dried/salted/brine, shell-on frozen in nine different sizes and as three other types of frozen products. The Import of Shrimp The three largest importers of shrimp in 2005 were the USA, Japan and the EU. The amount of shrimp imported by these three groups of countries is about 25 percent of world shrimp production, corresponding to 75 percent Fig. 9. The value of shrimp export has increased from less than one billion US$ in 1976 to about 12 billion US$ in 2004. Table 8. The import of shrimp of the 20 most prominent countries. Country Tons of product Country Tons of products USA 518902 Iceland 53224 Japan 302446 Netherlands 52527 Spain 143471 Canada 47049 Denmark 136233 Malaysia 46136 France 101679 Russian Federation 35597 United Kingdom 88956 Germany 30215 Korea, Republic of 63188 Australia 26909 China 58005 Norway 24431 Belgium 57001 China,Hong Kong 25502 Italy 56175 Sweden 25173 Table 9. The import of shrimp of the 20 most prominent countries measured in million US$. Country Million US$ Country Million US$ USA 3 833 Germany 249 Japan 2 515 Korea, Republic of 202 Spain 970 Australia 174 France 664 Malaysia 172 United Kingdom 604 China 136 Belgium 437 Singapore 128 Denmark 419 Sweden 128 Italy 401 Portugal 120 Canada 317 China, Hong Kong 107 Netherlands 281 Thailand 91
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjExNDY=