Photo: Revista Puerto/FIS

The Argentine shrimp season in Patagonia: a lifeline for a fractured business

Lack of stock drives demand, but also highlights the sector's vulnerability

After months of uncertainty, the shrimp business in Argentine Patagonia has begun to reactivate. It is doing so urgently to meet a demand that was previously unmet due to a lack of raw material, which even led to the loss of some key markets. With stocks depleted, the price of frozen shrimp on board has stabilized above 6 dollars, a trend that is expected to continue throughout the year. This situation could even generate a new opportunity for whole shrimp from Rawson.

Unloading frozen shrimp from on board. Photo: Revista Puerto

Until just fifteen days ago, it was not known if there would be a season for frozen shrimp on board. In the meantime, stocks in Europe, its main market, were running out, creating a serious problem to serve customers and leading to the probable loss of other markets. This conflict has had a serious impact on the shrimp business.

According to Karina Fernández from Revista Puerto, Argentine fishing companies have no frozen shrimp on board and are now relying on the large sizes of the resource to meet demand. "There is a great demand, but with the little product that we are going to have, we will have to see how we distribute it between our headquarters in Spain and customers around the world. What happened was a disaster. In some markets, we will surely lose something due to this lack of catch,” explained Pablo Basso, from Iberconsa.

Delivery delays are affecting reliability as suppliers, a problem that, according to Estela Baldini from Conarpesa, is very difficult to reverse. “The damage this caused is very difficult to reverse, not only because we don't have the fish, but because we don't have it on time; there are markets for which we are no longer reliable. China, Taiwan, Korea, they cost us a lot of years of investment and travel, and the client doesn't understand you. There are cultures for which it is very difficult to understand that you cannot work. Now we have to start rowing again,” she described.

With empty cold storage in Argentina and depleted stocks of frozen shrimp on board in Europe and Japan, the price has had an upward effect, exceeding 6 dollars. This was something that the sector expected and had confidence in when it was accepted to agree to a downward adjustment of 18% instead of the initially intended 30%.

Now it remains to fish everything possible until the hake or juvenile shrimp put an end to the season. Some companies will be able to supply their customers, but they believe that not all markets will be able to be supplied correctly.

Related News:

• Excellent Catches and Lower Prices: Argentina's Shrimp Season Breaks Records Despite Price Crisis

• SOMU Asks to Extend Shrimp Season While Catches Improve

• Labor Agreement Resolves Shrimp Conflict, Fleet Reactivated

• End of the Shirmp Crisis? Nationwide Sailor Pressure Accelerates Agreement with SOMU

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