US shrimp sales were down in 2023, and market difficulties are expected to continue in 2024

After a rough year for U.S. shrimp importers, the outlook for the first half of 2024 continues to be relatively grim. A panel of executives speaking at the 2024 Global Seafood Marketing Conference – which took place from 23 to 25 January in Orlando, Florida, U.S.A. – said the first half of 2024 will likely see a contraction across the seafood industry, particularly with shrimp imports, in the wake of a difficult 2023. “It’s been a wild year, a challenging year for many of us,” Rich Products Consumer Brands Division Senior Vice President Shannon Gilreath said. Gilreath attributed the contraction to the ending of some Covid-era SNAP benefits and the resumption of student loan repayments that had been frozen during the pandemic. As a result, shoppers could not take advantage of lower shrimp prices, resulting in the industry “sitting on expensive inventory.""It was hard for a lot of us to react across the industry," Gilreath said.For the first half of 2024, Gilreath said she expects ...