April 17, 2014
US shrimp prices up 61% in March
Buoyed by a disease that's taking a heavy toll on shrimps, the US seafood industry, already suffering from a drop in consumption by US consumers, now faces sharply higher prices for shrimp.
US shrimp prices in March jumped 61% from a year earlier, according to the US Bureau of Labour Statistics, thanks to a bacterial disease known as early mortality syndrome. It doesn't affect humans but it's killing off shrimp beds in Southeast Asia, a major global supplier.
Restaurant chains are hesitant to pass on too much of the higher cost to consumers who still haven't fully regained their appetite for dining out.
The shrimp inflation crisis comes at a particularly bad time -- Lent, a season when many consumers would be expected to switch to seafood for at least a few days.
US consumers have been steadily turning away from seafood, even as they seek out foods they think are healthier and less likely to pack on the pounds.
The average US consumer ate 14.4 pounds of seafood in 2012, the last year for which figures are available, down from 15 pounds in 2011 and a record high 16.6 pounds consumed in 2004. That's far less than the average 82 pounds of chicken, 57 pounds of beef and 46 pounds of pork Americans consume in a year.
That puts us way behind countries like Japan, where the average consumer eats 120 pounds of fish a year. Spain is close behind at 96.