'Hand to mouth' buying could force EU shrimp imports down 15% in second half of year

Shrimp imports into the European Union (EU) are likely to sink 15 percent in the second half of 2023, as buyers focus on offloading their high-priced inventories over the remainder of the year, according to figures presented at the Global Shrimp Forum.

EU imports of raw frozen penaeus shrimp -- which makes up the majority of the bloc's imports and comprise around 85 percent vannamei, 10 percent monodon, and 5 percent wild-caught -- have been stagnant for a long time, growing just 12 percent to 269,799 metric tons between 2012 and 2020, according to the figures.