The majority of US shrimp purchasing for the winter holiday season is done, the CEO of trading company Siam Canadian, Jim Gulkin, told Undercurrent News.

Often at the Vietfish event shrimp companies are on the verge of beginning the “buying season”, but this year the event is a few weeks later.

“Orders had to have been placed by now really for deliveries to arrive before the US holiday period, that runs from Thanksgiving, through to the Superbowl and Lent [Feb. 26-April 9, 2020],” said Gulkin.

Hence, most of the remaining harvests in key producing countries are largely bought up now, he added.

For Indonesia – which Gulkin described as the “most consistently competitive” producer for commodity shrimp, especially “easy-peel”, in 2019 – this has brought prices up in the last few weeks. The graph below, though showing Vietnamese prices for 80-count shrimp, shows a similar pattern.

Generally, shrimp prices have been fairly stable this year, after the lows of 2018, he continued. Gulkin expects little movement for the remaining months of 2019, with swings of 5% – 10% at the most – he said.