Shrimp prices

US - Gulf shrimpers have long blamed competition from lower-priced Asian and South American imports for low domestic shrimp prices, but over the past four months, prices for larger domestic shrimp have fallen well below those of their foreign competitors.

The fresh trend has been ballyhooed by industry observers and business people who opposed the Southern shrimp industry's successful battle last year to have federal tariffs placed on imported shrimp. Those observers say the reversal calls into question whether imports can be blamed for ever-weakening domestic shrimp prices.

"I think it means that the markets for domestic shrimp and for (imported) black tiger shrimp aren't as connected as people thought," said Mike Hughes, shrimp buyer for Slade Gorton &Company Inc. in Boston.

Source: Alabama Live