Marine Shrimp in Asia: Production mired by low prices and disease outbreaks in 2022

More outbreaks of WSSV, AHPND and WFS/EHP were reported, linked to adverse climate conditions

The estimates on global production of farmed marine shrimp for 2022 are around 5.5 million tonnes, comprising vannamei and black tiger shrimp by the GOAL survey (see pages 60-61). Asia contributed more than 3.5 million tonnes.

In January 2023, the Shrimp Panel at the Global Seafood Marketing Conference (GSMC) estimated 4.973 million tonnes of vannamei shrimp with Asia contributing 2.955 million tonnes. Up to November 2022, the US imported less shrimp at 779,725 tonnes compared to the same period in 2021 at 808,534 tonnes. Seafoodsource.com reported that in the second half of 2022, monthly imports were lower compared to those in the previous year. National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) data indicated less imports from India (-9%), Indonesia (-2%), Vietnam (-14%) and China (-35%).

The expectation is that 2023 will be a difficult year following the lower stocking rates of the last quarter; the second half of the year will depend on shrimp price movement and the world economy both of which will affect the purchasing power and hence consumption. It is expected that countries with domestic consumption will be less affected than those dependent on exports (GSMC, 2023).

With regards to global production in 2023, the GSMC shrimp panel forecasted a 1% decrease to 4.870 million tonnes. According to Nikolik and Sharma (2022), industry remains optimistic on supply in 2023 with growth in supply and recovery in Chinese production. Asia’s contribution will increase 4% to 4 million tonnes in 2023. Meanwhile industry in Ecuador expects exports of 1.02 million tonnes from a production of 1.4 million tonnes in 2023.

In the following paragraphs, we discuss recent developments in Asia’s shrimp aquaculture industry, based on information from industry, presentations at recent conferences and news reports.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

India
India is now Asia’s leader in farmed shrimp. In their annual shrimp crop review, the Society of Aquaculture Professionals (SAP) estimated a marginal 3% drop in total production to 902,525 tonnes for 2022 (see pages 4-6). However, this contrasted with earlier estimates that the 2022 production will be down by 20-30%.

In his blog, Willem van der Pijl, Shrimp Insights, said that the industry in India has been facing “extraordinary low farm gate prices and high input costs”. As broodstock imports and shrimp exports plummeted in October and November, a decrease may happen in the first quarter of 2023. Seafoodsource.com said that the situation has discouraged farmers from stocking their ponds, with many considering leaving them fallow until April 2023.

Around 40% of Indian shrimp goes to the US market and China is its biggest market after the US. The preferred harvest size for vannamei shrimp depends on the processors and market demand. For Chinese markets, the preferred size is 80-90/kg. At the end of February 2023, farm gate prices for size 100/kg shrimp were INR255/kg (USD3.08/kg) and the cost of production ranged from INR200-210/kg (USD2.42- 2.54/kg) in farms in Andhra Pradesh, the leading shrimp farming state.

However, producing size 100/kg shrimp is not attractive for farmers in Tamil Nadu, culturing in coastal/creek-based ponds with high salinity, as the culture duration is much longer at 60-70 days and production cost is too high at around INR215/kg (USD2.60/kg, direct cost). A profitable harvest size for them is 40/kg where the cost of production is around INR265/kg (USD3.21/kg) and farm gate prices at around INR380/kg (USD4.60/kg).

The disease situation has been dire in India. Until early 2023, the degree of infection and impact varied tremendously and the country-wide prevalence of Enterocytozoon hepatopenaei (EHP) was almost 80%. White spot syndrome virus (WSSV) has been more prevalent over the winter months.

“In parts of Andhra Pradesh (Krishna, West and East Godavari), farming the vannamei shrimp at low salinity (5-12ppt) is popular particularly when EHP is present as survival and growth rates are not so adversely affected. The poor farming success rates in the traditional high saline ponds have now pushed up prices of land leases in low saline farming areas,” said B. Ravikumar, Assistant Vice President – Sales and Technical at Growel Feeds Pvt Ltd.

“With EHP infections, the cost of production rises by 10-13% in low saline ponds, depending on harvest size in Andhra Pradesh as compared to 20-25% for shrimp in 25-33ppt ponds in Tamil Nadu. In these low saline ponds, farmers can have 3-4 crops/year producing size 100/kg at INR225-240/kg (USD2.72-2.90/kg) since each cycle is around 50-60 days.”

With regards to genetics, industry also said that SyAqua’s balanced line has been very successful and are getting traction in India with acceptable growth and better survival in the farms. Post larvae performed better at low salinity and recovery from white faeces is faster.

Vietnam

Industry reported a production of 800,000 tonnes in 2021 and forecasted a 10% drop in production in 2022 to 720,000 tonnes, due to EHP in the second half of 2022. The GSMC shrimp panel estimated a production of 680,000 tonnes of vannamei shrimp and 180,000 tonnes of black tiger shrimp.

Increasing shrimp production annually is an ongoing target for Vietnam’s shrimp industry stakeholders. Industry leaders said that production may reach one million tonnes in 2022 with the application of high technology models which can produce 40-60 tonnes/ha compared to the average yield in 2021 which was over 5 tonnes/ha (vietnamagriculture.nongnghiep.vn).

Dr Loc Tran, ShrimpVet Laboratory says that at his farm, the preferred harvest size is 50/kg or larger shrimp but processors in general prefer size 40-60/kg. In a presentation at TARS 2022, Olivier Decamp and Nguyen Van Khanh, Grobest, described in detail indications of lower production. Among them were the export situation which went down from June 2022, lower post larvae supply early in 2022, outbreaks of EHP, white faeces syndrome (WFS) and acute hepatopancreatic necrosis disease (AHPND) since April, and adverse climate (see page 8-12). Tran added that among them, EHP has been the most serious disease.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In July 2022, Seabinagroup reported that vannamei prices increased by VND1,000-2,000/kg (USD0.04-0.08/kg) in Soc Trang (Mekong Delta) because of lower harvests. The price range for large sizes (40-25/kg) was VND130,000-175,000/kg (USD5.51-USD7.42/kg). For smaller sizes (100-70/kg) it was VND99,000-119,000/kg (USD4.19-5.04/kg).

China

The GOAL survey has adjusted the estimate on China’s farmed shrimp production to 800,000 tonnes in 2022 and GSMC also gave a total of 800,000 tonnes, including 120,000 tonnes of black tiger shrimp. Since China’s shrimp exports to the US dropped by 35%, China is now seen as a consumer of shrimp, rather than as a global supplier.

According to Fatima Ferdouse, International Consultant-Fisheries, Malaysia, China imported almost one million tonnes in 2022, most of these during the post lockdown months from July 2022 at 100,000 tonnes/month. Sixty percent of her imports came from Ecuador, followed by Vietnam and India. Local production of live vannamei and black tiger shrimp is increasing, said an industry source. However, there is high price elasticity, prices dropping when farmers harvest more shrimp. With China fully opening in 2023, it will be the bright spot with increasing demand and hopefully this will improve overall prices.

Indonesia

The most recent estimate on total farmed shrimp production for 2022, according to Haris Muhtadi, President of Shrimp Club Indonesia, was 445,000 tonnes, unchanged from the production in 2021. This would also include some 50,000 tonnes of black tiger shrimp from extensive culture systems. In 2023, Haris expects the production to be lower than in 2022, at only 415,000 tonnes because of increases in disease outbreaks, mainly WSSV, AHPND and infectious myonecrosis (IMNV) in North Sumatra, Lampung, Java and Sulawesi. At GSMC, the shrimp panel was more optimistic with a forecast of 380,000 tonnes of vannamei shrimp in 2023.

Based on feed sales data and estimates from local industry insiders, a February 2023 Shrimp Insights blog suggested a total production volume of vannamei shrimp in Indonesia not exceeding 400,000-450,000 tonnes. It also said that the export volume of vannamei shrimp stagnated just above 200,000 tonnes for 2022. Exports grew in the first three months of 2022 and then stagnated over the last nine months.

Haris said that production was still below expectations because of diseases, lower farm gate prices and that farmers preferred to harvest small size shrimp with better offer prices from processing plants during the second half of 2022.

A preferred harvest is size 30/kg but this is difficult to achieve as most farms are located on Java Island and processors need only small volumes of this. For this, the production cost is IDR50,000- IDR60,000/kg (USD3.25-3.90/kg). Processors look for sizes 50-100/kg.

The government has commenced its plans to increase farmed shrimp production by 2024 to 2 million tonnes. It has launched the first farm in Kebumen Regency, Central Java Island with 149 lined ponds. The target production is 40tonnes/ha. (see page 64).

Thailand

Thailand’s production of 256,832 tonnes, comprising 241,526 tonnes of vannamei shrimp and 15,306 tonnes of black tiger shrimp saw further decline since 2019. This official data is derived from a system called Aquaculture Product Purchasing Document (APD) which links farmers to processors. Without utilising this system, farmers cannot sell their shrimp; the Department of Fisheries explained that it is to create confidence in Thailand’s traceability system.

According to Aquaculture Development Consultant Vinij Tansakul, the majority of Thai farmers prefer to go back to the days of higher production or at least to enhance yields. “Due to market volatility and limited capital investments, the number of processing plants with cold storage facilities has dropped to 20, with a total capacity at approximately 160,000-200,000 tonnes/year. If farmers seek to increase productivity, they must also consider the purchasing capability of processors and storage facilities particularly during peak production which is during the second half of the year. Otherwise, higher yields will bring down prices.”

The preferred harvest size for Thai farmers is the more profitable size 60-70/kg. Survival ranges from 65-75%. “Processors prefer size 25-30/kg but this size is actually difficult to find and buy from Thai shrimp farms because it will require 110-120 days to culture. The majority of Thai shrimp farms wish to culture for a maximum of 80-90 days only,” said Tansakul. “Feed conversion ratio (FCR) is usually 1.3-1.4 and average daily growth (ADG) using a fast growing shrimp line is 0.21-0.23g and for the balanced line, ADG is 0.18-0.21g. WSSV has been present since Q4 2022 and appears to persist for an unusually long time.”

During the recent Suratthani gathering for the Thai Shrimp industry, Robins Mcintosh, Charoen Pokphand Foods Public Ltd (CPF), presented on using genetics as a tool and not as a solution. He gave examples of successful (profitable) farmers attaining harvests of 30 tonnes/ha after 85 days at 92% survival. McIntosh stressed on feeding rates to match genetics and reducing stocking density to 100PL/m2 to achieve ADG of 0.33g.

Philippines

Among the local industry players, there is some ambiguity with regards to production volumes in 2022; they said volumes ranged between 60-65,000 tonnes but based on feed consumption, production could be about 40,000 tonnes of vannamei shrimp. The Philippines Statistics Authority gave black tiger shrimp production of 33,731 tonnes in 2022, which could also include vannamei shrimp. Sporadic disease outbreaks such as AHPND, WSSV and EHP and co infections caused abrupt mortalities. Farmers’ dilemma included unpredictable and changing weather conditions, low salinities causing mineral imbalance, increased feed costs and seasonal drop in shrimp prices.

In late 2022, the entire Calatagan region was hit by AHPND, EMS, running mortality syndrome (RMS) coupled with EHP according to samples sent to BFAR for testing. William Kramer, CCM Agri Aqua Ventures, said, “The disease situation apparently had started in April/May 2022 in the west side of the province.” Elsewhere, industry players listed WSSV in Negros Occidental and in parts of Cebu Island.

With lower supply from diseases as well as higher costs of production, Kramer said that farm gate prices have increased. “The base price (for 10g) shrimp is PHP240-280/kg (USD4.38-5.11/kg) for Luzon farms and PHP140/kg (USD2.55/kg) for farms in Visayas. Luzon producers have the edge because of their proximity to high-demand markets around Metro Manila while the Visayas producers need to spend PHP70-80/kg (USD1.27-1.46/kg) for transport and Mindanao producers PHP90-100/kg (USD1.64-1.82/kg) for air freight.” In March 2023, farm gate prices in Cebu remained high at PHP260/kg (4.75/kg) whereas the base price is usually only PHP 190/kg (USD3.47/kg, Dr Valeriano Corre, pers. comm).

Malaysia

The industry does not expect 2022 production to change from 40,000 tonnes as was achieved in 2021. In terms of size, processors prefer size 31-40/kg for either vannamei or black tiger. Live cooked shrimp sell at higher prices than chilled cooked shrimp although there is no differentiation in farm gate prices at MYR33-35 (USD7.37-7.81/kg) for size 30/kg (March 2023). Colour is important for the buyers who focus on colour 29 on the salmon fan. Almost all of the production is for domestic markets. Singapore is an important market for live shrimp, Local shrimp with farm gate prices of MYR27/kg (USD6.03/kg) for size 70/kg, often compete with imports of high-quality Thai shrimp and when this happens, prices drop.

Wan Nadhri Wan Fauzi, CEO at Blue Archipelago Bhd, Malaysia’s leading shrimp integrator, said, “Our buyers prefer size 40-60/kg shrimp but for us, the optimal range is 14g-18g (size 70-50/kg) or days of culture 65-85, given the survival rates, FCR, market prices and disease mitigation plans. In 2022, our major challenges were disease problems especially WSSV. In terms of genetics, we are comfortable with our specific pathogen tolerant/specific pathogen free (SPT/SPF) shrimp and we wish to see 1-2 more proven tolerant lines with good growth such as ADGs above 0.2g.”

Hatchery and genetics segments

Recently, hatcheries in India and Southeast Asia have several choices of growth and balanced lines broodstock. In India, the Shrimp Improvement Systems (SIS) hardyline and Kona Bay balance line are market leaders. Kona Bay had a good year in Indonesia, while new shrimp lines from American Penaeid Inc (API) and Benchmark were introduced to hatcheries in Lampung and Java. The results of these new introductions are yet to be seen, said an industry source, adding that there has been a shift towards tolerant animals in Indonesia, but growth is slow, resulting in higher FCR, reducing profits especially with lower prices. He added that the balance line seems to be the preference but growth.

Some comments on the use of growth and tolerant lines were given under the relevant country report. Additional general comments include the following:
• Generally, the fast growth lines remain popular.
• Broodstock based on balance line genetics tend to be preferred in cycles with disease outbreaks and during the monsoon season.
• Benchmark and API have not entered the Philippines market where the preference is still for fast growth.
• While farmers are challenged by disease problems, they remained technically advanced and more open to test and adapt to new genetics.”

From his visits to many hatcheries in Asia, Mark R. Napulan, Zeigler feeds observed, “Hatchery players need to put more focus on elevating biosecurity measures by reducing the use of live and fresh feeds and implementing strict biosecurity protocols in the hatchery. We advocate switching to using biosecure diets in shrimp maturation and larval rearing to help mitigate impact of diseases and prevent pathogen entry. The application of a proven and effective probiotic program in the hatchery could eliminate Vibrio, promote gut health and maintain a stable environment for post larvae.”

In terms of cost optimisation, Napulan suggested that hatcheries start evaluating feed efficiency by calculating number of post larvae produced/g of feed. “The use of nutrient-dense and highly digestible diets produce quality post larvae that will perform later in ponds,”

In Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia and India, nursery systems are currently not well adopted and there is a lack of interest.

From farmers’ perspectives, the risks of having nurseries outweigh the benefits. Farms which have previously invested in nursery systems have returned to direct stocking,” said Napulan. Other reasons pulling farms away from adopting nursery systems is that skilled technicians are required and that its management is still viewed as complex by many farmers.

Black tiger shrimp

During a session dedicated to black tiger shrimp farming at the 2022 Global Shrimp Forum (GSF), McIntosh said that the surge in its farming in China, Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia, was largely due to the availability of CPF’s domesticated and specific pathogen free (SPF) broodstock. He expected China’s black tiger shrimp production to rise to 180,000 tonnes from 100,000 tonnes in 2021 while Minh Phu CEO, Le Van Quang, expected that 20% of Vietnam’s shrimp production to be black tiger shrimp, estimated to be 180,000 tonnes (AAP, September/October 2022).

In India, the interest in its farming came with the availability of fast-growing SPF black tiger shrimp such as those from Moana (Hawaii) and domesticated broodstock from Madagascar. It is also because the black tiger has a higher tolerance to EHP and WFS, as well as to RMS and is more suitable to farm in Gujarat during the hot summer months which the vannamei shrimp cannot tolerate. Gujarat farmers always have only one crop/year and with black tiger, they have a choice of another crop. SAP estimated 50,000 tonnes in 2022 while Dr Manoj Sharma, Mayank Aquaculture, India, gave an estimate of 30,000-35,000 tonnes in 2022.

McIntosh said that farms in China, Vietnam, and parts of India often struggle with diseases in their white shrimp populations, but black tiger has not faced the same difficulties (seafoodsource.com). “If black tiger came back to be 20% of Asian farmed shrimp production, that would be a huge success.”

The price factor worked well during the early part of 2022. By mid-year, producers in Malaysia began to complain of low prices in contrast to farm gate prices in Vietnam.

In March 2023, farm gate prices for size 30/kg black tiger shrimp at MYR 33-34/kg (USD7.37-7.59/kg) was MYR1.00 (USD 0.22/kg) lower than for equivalent size vannamei shrimp. At the end of 2022, black tiger shrimp prices for size 20/kg dropped to INR420 (5.08/kg) from INR720/kg (USD8.72/kg) in India while the cost of production was INR480/kg (USD5.81/kg). Vietnam’s size 30/kg black tiger shrimp prices remained high at USD7.80/kg at the end of the year and rose to USD9.60/kg in February 2023, while Indian prices dropped to USD4.30/kg in February 2023.

In his blog, van der Pijl said that raw black tiger shrimp exports have also increased YOY, reaching a year total of 15,500 tonnes in October, up by 68% compared to the same period in 2021. “Buyers from Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands-traditionally larger markets for Asian black tiger shrimp are clearly complementing or replacing their supplies from Bangladesh with Indian shipments.”