© GSF
These were some of the core messages from the final panel at the fourth Global Shrimp Forum, where shrimp industry leaders from India, Ecuador and Southeast Asia shared frank views on what the sector must prioritise.
Asia’s pond failure problem
As Robins McIntosh, executive vice president at Charoen Pokphand Foods, warned, Southeast Asia’s competitiveness is being eroded by spiralling production costs.
“The highest cost for Asia right now is pond failure. The whole aim of Asia right now is to reduce pond failure,” he said, noting that Asia’s pond failure rate is estimated to be approximately 25 percent, compared to less than 5 percent in Ecuador.
For McIntosh, the solution lies in limiting stocking densities and focusing on health.
“Ecuador has shown that you don't just have to go vertical, you can go horizontal. What I mean by horizontal is more cycles per year, not higher density… People think higher densities when in fact, from the very beginning I was telling people, let's think more cycles and let's take advantage of the genetics. Genetics can increase growth and [lead to] more cycles,” explained McIntosh, pointing out that India adopts similar densities to Ecuador.
He also urged governments to rethink growth targets: “I’ve always had a problem with the governments insisting on more and more. If governments would just moderate, so we’re not always targeting 10 percent growth [per year], that would certainly help.”
Consistency and profitability, rather than record yields, should be the true benchmark, he argued.
“We should basically be given applause to those that are consistent and consistently profitable versus those that hit a home run once a year,” he reflected.
India at a crossroads
Meanwhile, for Yamini Kotluri, the head of India’s Growel Group, the country’s future depends on breaking with its export-only mindset.
“India must look inwards. We’re a big country. We have to build a strong domestic seafood market,” she said. “For decades, shrimp have been grown for export and not for our own consumption. But with a growing middle class, rising health awareness and changing taste, the time is right to make seafood more mainstream in India.”
She also called on the sector to develop more diverse offerings.
“Ready to cook, ready to eat. Branded seafood is no longer optional – it’s essential,” she argued, while also warning that the sector must balance the farmers’ livelihoods with sustainability and a move towards resilience.
Ecuador’s technification drive
Andrés Rivadulla, managing director of BioMar Ecuador, said that years of investment in “technification” – from automatic feeders and aerators to better production practices – have delivered results and made Ecuador one of the world’s most advanced shrimp-producing nations.
“The road to technification and competitiveness in the last years is paying off. Companies in Ecuador are quite successful, competitive and efficient in producing shrimp,” he explained.
“We see is that there's still potential to grow not just by jumping into more densities, but because there's still a lot of [pond] surface that is pending to be technified… I imagine that 50 percent [of farms] are pending to be technified – that’s a lot of [extra] shrimp that can still be produced.”
Rivadulla cautioned that, in order to sustain growth, increases in production capacity must be matched by the growth of feed mills and processing facilities. At present, Ecuador lacks the capacity to supply value-added products such as ready-to-eat shrimp, as the country has traditionally focused on head-on exports.
Crisis as a catalyst
Despite the challenges posed by trade disruptions, disease and climate change, the panellists agreed that disruption can also drive change and innovation across the shrimp sector.
“Crises always lead to rapid change for the better,” noted McIntosh.
Kotluri echoed the point, saying: “Tariffs, disease and climate pressures are all tough realities. But they are definitely catalysts in pushing us to diversify, invest in branding and move further up our value chain.”
