On Friday, NOAA released shrimp landings data from the Gulf of Mexico for April 2016.
For the month, NOAA reported landings of 2.8 million pounds shrimp in the region, the highest total for an April since 2012 and 13.2% above the prior fourteen-year historical average. This amount was driven by a productive April in Louisiana (0.65 million pounds) and Texas (0.95 million pounds) and an unprecedented April in Alabama (0.75 million pounds). Shrimp landed in Alabama last month was, far and away, the highest reported for any April in the data maintained by the Southern Shrimp Alliance going back to 2002 and nearly three times the historical average (0.19 million pounds) for the prior fourteen years.
For the first four months of 2016, landings in Louisiana (4.0 million pounds), Texas (4.5 million pounds), Alabama (2.5 million pounds), and Mississippi (0.28 million pounds) are significantly above landings for those states over the same time periods in 2014 and 2015. For the entirety of the Gulf, NOAA reported landings of 13.3 million pounds for the first third of the year, the fifth highest total going back to 2001 and 13.1% above the prior fifteen-year historical average.
While landings data have been encouraging, NOAA’s reported dockside prices have not been. Ex-vessel prices for U15 count headless shrimp remain at elevated levels. In contrast, prices for small shrimp continue to deteriorate. NOAA reports that in April, the dockside ex-vessel price in the Western Gulf for 41/50 count headless shrimp was $1.12 per pound compared to $3.51 per pound in April 2015. This is the lowest ex-vessel price for 41/50 headless count reported for any April in the Western Gulf in the data maintained by the Southern Shrimp Alliance going back to 2001.
Please click the following link to view SSA’s compilation and summary of April 2001-2016 Shrimp Landings and Ex-Vessel Prices for the same time period: https://shrimpalliance.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/April-2016-Landings.pdf