Rabobank has published a report where it says 2022 should be another “excellent” year for major shrimp and salmon producers. The report summarizes the main takeaways from the Global Seafood Alliance (GSA) GOAL Conference.

According to the Dutch multinational banking, new data presented at the GSA GOAL conference suggested year-on-year growth will potentially achieve well over 10% in 2021, putting shrimp production above pre-pandemic levels.

Ecuador and India are the countries that have primarily experienced global shrimp supply growth. Regarding this, Novel Sharma, seafood analyst at Rabobank explained: “The demand dynamics that enabled this growth resulted from changing consumption patterns. Which are expected to persist in 2022. Along with shrimp producers benefiting from growth in retail consumption in the EU and especially the US.”

Salmon demand in 2022

In addition, the report indicates that salmon prices will remain well-above-average levels. So, salmon producers should look forward to 2022, with minor increases in volumes produced. In more detail, the Chilean industry should grow at around 20% for a few months in 2022. Before slowing down again to reach year-on-year growth of 8% to 9%. “This projection, combined with the expected normalized growth for Norway, should result in global supply expanding by 5% in 2022. In the current market, this is considered below demand growth and thus supportive to prices,” added Sharma.

Seafood’s newfound popularity in most western countries and the reopening of the food service sector will also incise in 2022 demand. Finally, the report highlights the potential of the retail channel to grow this year due to the ability to add convenience options to its product ranges.

According to a GOAL survey, the main concern now is how the rising costs are influencing the ranked market prices. Thereby, inflation is increasing labor costs, energy costs, feed prices, and logistical interruptions. Rabobank hopes that the big gain in seafood retail and the reopening of food service channels can undermine this.

This trend seems to continue from 2021, when the total supply of farmed and wild salmon was 13% more compared to 2020.