Gulf of Mexico shrimp landings steady in December 2022

NOAA Fisheries’ Southeast Fisheries Science Center has released preliminary shrimp landings data for December 2022 for the U.S. Gulf of Mexico and South Atlantic. 

Approximately 6.7 million pounds of shrimp were landed in the Gulf of Mexico and the South Atlantic in December 2022, according to NOAA. For the total year, 119.7 million pounds of warmwater shrimp were landed in the U.S., down from its updated figure of 128 million pounds in 2021, a decline of 6.5 percent. 

The landings in the Gulf of Mexico, when compared to figures previously reported by the agency, were 7.1 percent below the 22-year historic average of 117.9 million pounds. NOAA changed the way it reports its numbers in 2022, making direct comparisons more difficult. 

For the year, the U.S. state of Louisiana came in as the top performer. The state had a massive increase in shrimp landings from the 18.7 million pounds caught in 2021 to 51.7 million pounds in 2022. The 2022 total represents 43.2 percent of all shrimp landed in the entire U.S. 

The Southern Shrimp Alliance (SSA) said NOAA has revised its ex-vessel prices, and is no longer reporting prices for the western, northern, and eastern regions of the Gulf of Mexico. It now reports a single ex-vessel price for the overall Gulf of Mexico with a single price for the South Atlantic. The SSA said it is tracking and summarizing prices for count sizes used by the agency (U15, 15/20, 21/25, 26/30, 31/35, 36/40, and 41/50).   

The group found in a review that the Gulf of Mexico prices for almost all counts were lower in December 2022 compared to December 2021. For the South Atlantic, prices were also lower for all shrimp, except for 41/50 count-size shrimp. 

The ex-vessel price for Gulf of Mexico region U15 shrimp was USD 7.61 (EUR 6.97), down from USD 7.87 (EUR 7.21) in 2021. For size 15/20, the price averaged USD 4.57 (EUR 4.19), down from USD 5.36 (EUR 4.91); for 21/25 the price dropped to USD 3.72 (EUR 3.41), down from USD 5.45 (EUR 4.99); for 26/30 the price dropped to USD 3.22 (EUR 2.95), down from USD 3.98 (EUR 3.64); for 31/35 the price dropped to USD 2.99 (EUR 2.74), down from USD 3.07 (EUR 2.81); for 36/40 the price dropped to USD 2.79 (EUR 2.55), down from USD 3.26 (EUR 2.98); and for 41/50 count prices in the Gulf of Mexico dropped to USD 2.31 (EUR 2.11) from USD 2.51 (EUR 2.30).

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