The shrimp industry in Thailand expects production to rebound by at least 17% in 2021 after a significant drop of around 25% year-on-year in 2020, said Sorophat Panakorn, a shrimp culture specialist with the Thai branch

Thai shrimp prices are rebounding at last after raw material prices hit the bottom during the past few weeks, according to the latest price update from the Asia-based frozen seafood supplier Siam Canadian Group.

Jump into a time machine and travel some months into the future, or — gasp -maybe even a whole year ahead — to the end of the coronavirus pandemic. Will shrimp consumption patterns return to what they were before?

Vietnam’s shrimp sector looks set to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic as “the winner”, thanks to a fortuitous combination of events, speakers on Undercurrent News’ latest webinar agreed.

In contrast to the sharp drop seen in the chief Indian vannamei shrimp farming state of Andhra Pradesh this month, prices for smaller shrimp in the state of Gujarat have been continuing to rise since the start of September.

The coronavirus pandemic could see 2020 farmed shrimp production drop by as much as 600,000 metric tons, according to data presented during the Undercurrent News Global Shrimp Market Outlook webinar

The coronavirus pandemic is driving a drop in farmed shrimp supply in 2020, but will also cause fundamental, longer-term changes to the market, said the founder of a big Asia-based supplier.

Although shrimp stocking has resumed in India over the past month, industry experts are in agreement that the country can expect a drop in production volume by 20-30% in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic.