The global output of farmed shrimp exceeds that of captured shrimp.

According to statistics released by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) a few days ago, global shrimp production (including fishing and farming) reached 6.52 million 9041 metric tons in 2007 (an increase of 2.1 per cent over 2006), the highest in history and the 14th consecutive year of positive growth.

Among them, the output of captured shrimp was 3.25 million 3315 metric tons, and that of farmed shrimp was 3.27 million 5726 metric tons, which was the first time that the output of farmed shrimp exceeded that of captured shrimp. In 2007, fishing shrimp production decreased by about 30,000 metric tons compared with the previous year, while farmed shrimp production increased by 160000 6500 metric tons over the previous year (an annual increase of 5.4 per cent), which was the reason for the reversal of the two rankings.

Global shrimp production has grown rapidly since the 1960s and reached the 1 million metric ton mark for the first time in 1969. Japan's opening up of imports since 1961 is the main cause of this growth.

After another 16 years, global shrimp production reached the 2 million mark in 1985. After that, the rate of increase accelerated, reaching the 3 million mark in just seven years (1992), and then another eight years to reach the 4 million mark (2000).

After 2000, due to the large-scale development of shrimp aquaculture in Southeast Asian countries, the global output reached 5.88 million metric tons in 2005 and grew to 6.39 million metric tons in 2006, breaking through the 6 million mark in one breath, with an alarming growth rate.

Although the rate of increase in 2007 slowed down, with an increase of only 130000 7000 metric tons over the previous year, it was also the growth of 14 consecutive years since 1993.

In addition, global farmed shrimp production exceeded 1 million metric tons for the first time in 2001, and then the scale of farming expanded rapidly with the increase in market demand in the United States and Japan, and finally exceeded captured shrimp production at a ratio of 50.2% to 49.8% in 2007.

In the process of the continuous growth of global farmed shrimp production, the trend in China is particularly noteworthy. In 2007, the output of farmed shrimp in China reached 1.26 million 5600 metric tons (an increase of 180000 5200 metric tons over the previous year), making it the largest shrimp farming country in the world. At the same time, for the first time, China's farmed shrimp production exceeds half of the country's total shrimp production (51.2%). However, there are still scholars and experts who doubt the correctness of Chinese shrimp production statistics.

The second and third largest shrimp farmers in the world were Thailand and Vietnam, with production of 501,200 tonnes and 370000 6700 tonnes respectively in 2007, but both were less than 2006.

In the shrimp industry, the most significant increase in production is the white shrimp. Since the 2000s, countries have actively invested in white shrimp culture, so that the global production of white shrimp reached 1.64 million 7405 metric tons in 2005, 209,935 metric tons in 2006 and 2.29 million 6630 metric tons in 2007. In 2007, production not only increased by 9.8% over the previous year, but also set an all-time high, proving that the culture of white shrimp has not declined. As far as the overall shrimp industry is concerned, the proportion of white shrimp has also risen to 70.1%.

Among them, the production of cultured white shrimp in China is particularly obvious. In 2007, China's farmed white shrimp production exceeded 1 million metric tons for the first time, an increase of 170000 8000 metric tons over 2006, accounting for 46 per cent of the global farmed white shrimp production. In 2007, the global production of farmed white shrimp increased by about 200000 metric tons over the previous year, 90% of which came from China.