Photo: Revista Puerto

All sub-areas have been closed in Argentina for shrimp fishing

ARGENTINA
Friday, September 20, 2024, 00:10 (GMT + 9)

The shrimp market at the end of the season

Yesterday all the sub-areas were closed for shrimp fishing, now all that remains is to try to sell the product and defend its price so that it does not continue to fall. Karina Fernández from Revista Puerto spoke with Buenaventura Lafuente, CEO of Estrella Patagónica, about the behavior of the market and the challenges that arise in positioning the product.

Photo: Revista Puerto

The season seems to have come to an end: as of today, all the sub-areas within the closed season were closed due to the presence of hake and the boats are returning to port. The catches were excellent both in volume and quality and the demand for frozen shrimp, unlike what happened in recent years, increased; but the prices, which began with a slight improvement, are again very low at the end of the season. The fact that the season is ending earlier than expected is not bad news, there is still stock in Argentina and also in Europe, so stopping fishing may contribute to keeping demand from falling and perhaps even to improving the value. However, achieving a better position for this superior quality product in the international market does not depend only on catches but on several factors, in which the industry and the government play a role. On these issues, Revista Puerto spoke with Buenaventura Lafuente, CEO of Estrella Patagónica.

REVISTA PUERTO: According to the data reflected by INDEC, this year there was a greater demand for frozen shrimp with a slight increase in price and the season began with orders for L1, which did very well in catches. How does the season end?

BUENAVENTURA LAFUENTE: Well, it would have to be evaluated because you just gave a very curious piece of information, that a lot of L1 was caught, which at the time was what was sold and had a price, a low but reasonable price. But the price went down again because it was what was left, the stock there is of L1 and the price is going down to the level of what the sizes L2 and L3 went down. The prices did not defend us at all. Although the production was not bad and we cannot complain about how the season treated us, the prices did not respond. I think that in Vigo we will have a good reference. The good thing about this is that there is indeed not much stock left in Argentina and there is practically nothing left to fish, we will see if that helps, because it is not bad news that there is no stock left in Argentina. Not having more to fish can also help that at the destination, in Europe, it will also disappear a little. What I see as complicated are the prices of both the whole and the tail, which also went down, it plummeted to the peeled and deveined. People do not want to pay what it is worth, it has a lot of competition from vannamei. The increase in demand had a good impact because it had an outlet and the truth is that we had some scary moments. Let's hope that the lack of stock and the fact that we are now facing a short period of no production will help; we will see what we find at the fair, we arrived in better condition than last year when we had a product in storage.

RP: Catches have found stability at 200 thousand tons, is there any possibility that demand will also stabilize, as was achieved with the hubbsi hake?

BL: Yes, we have practically stabilized the supply, but stabilizing demand seems very difficult, it would be ideal. We should convey that there is a stable supply and make the product count in the quality comparison. That would be fantastic, but we always depend on the mood of the buyers. We will see at Conxemar what clues they give us about the future.

RP: Is it not achieved because the sector is unable to impose the superiority of the product's quality or because internal costs do not allow for a competitive product?

BL: I think that the factors are combined because better conditions of competitiveness are indeed needed. We have competition with shrimp all over the world. We are talking about vannamei because the quantity of tons produced is enormous and it is a direct competitor. I was just referring to this with peeled and deveined shrimp, but it is with everything. What we have to do is differentiate ourselves from this product, because it is different and until now we have not known how to do it. But we can compete. It has nothing to do with the quality of the product or the quantity of the product. Absolutely nothing. Therefore, if we were able to do that, I think everything would be more stable. Then, of course, there are exogenous factors that we cannot control. The markets want what they want and can pay what they can pay because they have their own problems. But I think that for what shrimp we produce in Argentina we would have to be a little more exquisite.

RP: And why is it not done? Because we don't know how to do it or because it can't be done without government support?

BL: Internally we are very punished by export duties, although there are people who say no, that we pay very little. The truth is that we have many problems competing for what we pay and because we are also far away, that translates into poor competition, we have to work hard to get on the same level. That is why it would be important to achieve the differentiation that exists and is real. For our part, I think there is a lot of dispersion in the industry, different products and each one has its economic needs and that played and plays against the industry in general and the value that we can achieve for the product. There are markets that prefer vannamei, but there are others that know how to taste our shrimp, like Japan and Europe, those are the markets that we have to defend. We would have to promote that aspect and try to reach a more competitive price as well, and for that the State would have to give us a hand, but this is not the time to ask for it.

RP: We have spent the year discussing with the government how much fishing contributes instead of solving problems to achieve greater development.

BL: I don't know why this happens, there are people who have explained the problems of the sector very well, but well... Sometimes I want to give an explanation and I think that there are priority issues and we go in order and we will not have as much importance, although we already know the quantity that is exported and the money it generates. In the sector things are always made extremely complicated and we make the easy difficult.

Related News:

• Only one sub-area remains enabled for shrimp fishing

• Almost all Argentine shrimp sub-areas closed due to high presence of hake

• Shrimp yields in Argentina are falling

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