Image: Revista Puerto / FIS

Exports Increase; Shrimp Prices Decline

The report prepared by CAPECA shows a 35% increase in fishing sales abroad, with an increase in the price of hake fillets and illex squid but a deepening of the downward curve in the value of whole shrimp and tails, with Spain and China its main markets.

The report prepared monthly by the CAPECA freezer ship chamber gives an overview of the first month of the year compared to January 2023. They point out that total Argentine exports of Primary Products and Manufactures of Agricultural Origin totaled 3,495 million dollars during the month of January , with the fishing sector representing 3.9%. These figures reflect an increase in exports of primary products of 50.4% and of 3.1% of manufactured products.

Source: Capeca

For fishing, they also show positive figures, revealing an increase of 35.3% with 26,041 tons, for a total value of 138 million dollars. Of that total, 45 million correspond to the Asian market and 36 million to the European market, the main destinations for Argentine fishing products. In terms of volume, sales of hake fillet, squid and shrimp increased, although in the latter case the price drop continued to deepen for its two main products, whole and tails.

Hubbsi hake (Merluccius Hubbsi)

<-- Source: Stockfile FIS

Sales of common hake filet grew by 12.6% in volume and 13.9% in foreign currency as a result of the 1.2% increase in price in January compared to the same period last year, leaving the average price at 3,326 dollars a ton.

Source: Stockfile FIS -->

EThe increase in exports to Brazil of 34% maintains it as the main market, receiving almost 50% of the total exported. In second place is Spain, with an increase in demand of 11.6%, paying the lowest price, even below the average price; and in third place is Poland, which required 7% more than last year, being of the three the one that has paid the best price, at a rate of 3,561 dollars per ton.

In the case of frozen hake in products that do not include filet, exports increased by 84% with a total volume of 1,838 tons that were quoted at an average price of 1,535 dollars per ton, this is almost 6 points below the price of sale that they reached in January 2023.

The main market is Russia, which increased demand by 169% and took 34% of the total exported, but at a price 8% lower than last year, although above the average price. Below are two markets that will not register demand in 2023, Belarus and Algeria; and in fourth place Spain, which has required only 141 tons and still increased demand by 8% compared to January of last year.

Shrimp (Pleoticus Muelleri)

<-- Source: Stockfile FIS

Whole shrimp has had an increase in demand of 58%, exporting a total of 4,263 tons at an average price of 5,186 dollars; This implies a drop of 2% in a downward curve that has not found a bottom for years.

This increase in demand is due to the fact that Spain purchased 2,402 tons, which implies an increase of 639% compared to what was exported in January 2023, when they required only 325 tons. But the price was the lowest on the market, at $5,039 per ton.

Source: Capeca

The Chinese market has timidly awakened, requiring 442 tons, occupying second place in the ranking; Japan demanded 409 tons and the United States 257 tons, when in the three cases last year it had not purchased a single ton. The best price was paid by the US market at a rate of $5,866 per ton. In Italy demand fell, as did in Russia and South Africa.

In the case of shrimp tails, exports increased by 47% but the price fell by 3.6%, placing the average price at 7,323 dollars, also remaining on a downward curve like the whole fish. This curve, if it were not for the value achieved by the processed tails that go to the United States, would be even more marked. 

As always and because it is a product with greater added value, the United States market was the one that paid the best price, $10,980 per ton; but it only required 840 tons. Peru, which is a market for reprocessing, paid $7,286 per ton, closer to the average price and required 31% more product than last year. In Thailand, another market that reprocesses, sales fell 51% despite the fact that the price was very close to the low values paid by China.

Illex squid (Illex Argentinus)

<-- Source: Stockfile FIS

With a better start to the season than last year, squid sales grew by 143% compared to January 2023 when only 898 tons were exported compared to 2,182 tons this year. But the increase was not only in volume but also in prices, with a 22% increase that placed the average value of a ton at $2,438.

The main buyer has been China, which took 836 tons, increasing its demand by 194% and paying 45% more than last year, above the average price. Other markets include Japan and Spain with considerably lower volumes, but in the case of the Spanish market the price was $3,000, as these are generally products with some type of processing.

Patagonian toothfish (Dissostichus eleginoides) and King crab (Lithodes santolla)

<-- Source: Stockfile FIS

In January 2023, toothfish had not been exported, but this year 264 tons have already been sold at an average price of $25,202. Unlike what happened in the last two years, the United States no longer appears, at least for now, as the main buyer; but an unidentified one.

In the case of crab, something similar happens. The United States, which was its only buyer, has not bought this January; The plaintiff was China, which required 185 tons, the total exported, for a value of $19,043 per ton, a price 9.4% lower than the US market paid last year.

Source: Revista Puerto (Translated from the original in Spanish)

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