As a single country, Japan continues to be the second largest market for shrimp. However, there has been no real recovery in domestic consumption during the last few years and the annual imports touched a plateau.

JAPAN - The country is going through economic recession for a decade which has gradually effected consumer's disposable income. Due to this factor the Japanese per capita consumption of shrimp has declined to below 3 kg in the recent years. High consumption of shrimp now a days is only related to festive and holiday seasons.

MARKET TRENDS - A temporary recovery of the market was noticed during early 2002 following increased consumption in January-May. The September 11 incident changed Japanese travel pattern. Many have foregone overseas trips during the early year festival season and opted to travel either with in the country or stayed at home. This coupled with the beef-related health scare increased demand for fishery products including shrimp.

SHIFTS IN SIZE PREFERENCE - There has been shifts in consumers demand for shrimp in the Japanese market. As they become more price sensitive, preference has moved from large to medium sizes shrimp. This trend is more visible in the retail market. In the food service sector, sushi bars have also started to respond to this trend and serves required sizes sushi shrimp which are smaller than before. Re-processors of sushi and tempura shrimp have also started to use relatively smaller sizes of shrimp in order to accommodate final consumers demand pattern and affordability.

IMPORTS - The average monthly imports into Japan remained below 20 000 MT last year. The quantity increased to 25 000 MT only in October and November but declined again in December 2002.

Imports of frozen shrimp into Japan increased marginally by 1.55% from 245 048 MT in 2001 to 248 842 MT in 2002 with a value of US$ 2.28 billion and US$2.20 billion respectively. This slight increase in quantity could be attributed to higher supplies of cold water shrimp. There was no increase in the traditional tropical shrimp supplies which totaled 210 487 MT against 210 867 MT in 2001. Among the top six sources who supplied nearly 85% of tropical shrimp, imports increased only from Vietnam (+16.4%) and China (+31.3%) but declined from Indonesia (-2.6%, India (-19.0 %) and Thailand (-7.7 %). There were also lesser imports from Latin America namely Ecuador and Brazil due to increased supplies and subsequent imports of farmed white shrimp (P. vannamei) from China.

On the other hand, imports of coldwater shrimp in 2002 increased by 1.55% (+4 147 MT) to 38 355 MT from the main sources namely Canada, Russia, Argentina, Greenland, Iceland, Norway and Denmark.

HIGHER IMPORTS OF VALUE-ADDED SHRIMP - Nonetheless, a closer look to the overall imports indicated that supplies of value-added shrimp such as nobashi, tempura (breaded), sushi, and other cooked shrimp products increased last year. As a result, the total import value of shrimp stood US$ 2.43 billion.

PRICE TRENDS - Shrimp prices in general have weakened in the international market during the last one year. This is also reflected on Japanese import prices. As shown in Table 2, the average import price for frozen shrimp declined to US$8.8/kg in 2002 compared to US$9.3/kg in 2001.

The export price of 16/20 counts headless black tiger shrimp from India registered a fall by US$0.80 - 1.00/kg to US$ 12.00/kg, c&f Japan January 2003, against US$ 12.80/kg in the same month last year.

Japan does not command the international market prices for traditional block frozen products any more. Now a days the market prices are determined basically by the USA, the leading shrimp importer in the world market. However, some times even the other Asian buyers namely Thailand and Vietnam, who imports headless block frozen shrimp for re-processing from other Asian countries offer higher prices compared to Japanese buyers.

MARKET TRENDS IN 2003 - Both consumption and imports continue to be lower than average this year in Japan. Consumers confidence has been affected by the Middle East war and global financial insecurity. Springs sales are disappointing as many people are glued to the TV watching the war situation. The average Japanese at present prefer to spend on bare essentials and save for the future. This is contributing to inventory build up in the domestic market.
Imports in January 2003 were record low. However, prices are barely holding due to low supplies in producing countries.

Due to the depressed global market and adverse weather condition in many producing countries, Asian harvests of black tiger shrimp are forecast to be lower in the coming season. On the other hand, China plans to have a higher harvests of farmed white shrimp (P. vannamei) in 2003.

USA - This largest shrimp market in the world continues to influence the international trade for the past 2-3 years. These days, international market prices for shrimp are largely influenced by the US market condition.

REVIEW - According to the last census taken in 2002, SHRIMP was number one among the top ten seafood consumed in the USA in 2001. Per capita consumption increased from 2.90 lbs in 2000 to 3.5 lb in 2001 as imports crossed 400 000 MT level in 2001. It could be noted that the domestic production is able to meet only 12% of only the US shrimp demand, the remaining 88% is met by imported shrimp.

Last year, the market started to improve from the first quarter including recovery in prices, particularly in the retail market. Retail prices of shrimp plunged by as much as 40% in November/December 2001 after the 9/11. Through out the year the market remained relatively stable with increasing imports despite the economic slow down in the country.

IMPORTS - Imports of farmed black tiger and white shrimp surged in 2002 with total annual increase of 7% (28 966 MT) over 2001. However there were shifting in balance among the supply sources. Thailand remained the top most supplier but imports fell from 136 078 MT in 2001 to 115 105 MT in 2002 from this source registering a 15.4 % decline. With increased harvests of farmed white shrimp (P. vannamei) China became the second largest supplier of shrimp to the US market. Imports from China increased by 21 490 MT which was 76 % higher than the year before. Vietnam was the third largest supplier with a 34 % increase in exports to the US market. Exports from India and Indonesia, which were mostly black tiger shrimp, also showed good growth. From Latin America, imports from Brazil were significantly high at 17 733 MT (+81%). Supplies from Ecuador rose moderately but declined from Mexico by 5 720 MT against 2001.

In product form, overall imports of raw headless shell-on products increased with more supplies from India, China and Vietnam in Asia. But declined from the main supplier like Thailand and Mexico. On the other hand imports of semi-processed and processed shrimp increased from all major sources. Supplies of value added shrimp are generally dominated by Thailand and recently by Vietnam. Imports of breaded shrimp from Thailand, the main supplier, doubled during the reporting period.

Last year the US shrimp boat operators have initiated an anti-dumping case against 16 shrimp producing developing countries which is faced by strong resistance against this move from US importers and exporting countries.

The American Seafood Distributors Associated lately produced a report on "Economic Activity Associated with the Use of Imported Shrimp in the US'. The highlights of the major findings of the reports say:

• Imported shrimp products constituted 88% of all shrimp consumed in the U.S. and 37% of the value of all seafood products imported into the U.S. during 2001, the most recent full calendar year for which data are available.
• Imported shrimp represented 27% of the value of all raw marine fishery products available to the U.S. marketplace in 2001.
• The direct economic impacts associated with the marketing of imported shrimp were increases of industrial output in the U.S. of $3.8 billion, income growth of $1.37 billion, and value added increases of $1.9 billion. Over 80 000 directly related jobs were needed to provide that level of output.
• The indirect economic impacts were increases of industrial output of $2.2 billion, income growth of $742 million and value added increases of $1.2 billion. An additional 18 000 indirectly related jobs were needed to provide that level of output.
• The total economic activity generated by the marketing of imported shrimp products in the U.S., after inclusion of additional "induced" impacts, was an estimated $9.854 billion in economic output, $5.354 billion in value added, and $3.458 billion in income. Over 138 000 jobs were needed to support that level of total output.
•The value of imported shrimp was 12% greater than the value of all seafood products harvested by U.S. fishermen during 2001.

JANUARY MARCH 2003 - The market during the first quarter of this year has started with weaker notes.

Slow demand along the distribution chain and at the catering sector could be attributed to a weak stock exchange market, concerns over the US economy and US-Iraq war in the Middle East. In addition extreme cold weather during January-March effected restaurant business throughout the central part and East Coast of the USA. Nonetheless, imports continue to be moderately high which is reflected on the January 2003 customs clearance in the USA.

However, the introduction of the bio-terrorism act in the USA in cooperation with the US Customs called Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-PTAT) will slow down imports during the coming months. The rule requires vessels to document merchandise on board 24 hours before leaving a foreign port. The US Customs Department is now moving from the US Treasure Department to the new Department of Home Security.