Owing to the supremely hot weather and high water temperature this year, plus the water pollution following the heavy rains, the death rate of white-leg shrimp stocked into coastal areas in Sihu, Taixi and Mailiao in Yunlin, Taiwan and other coastal regions has reached as high as 80%. As the harvest drops sharply, the shrimp price in Taiwan also surges higher and higher. The price for 40/600g size shrimp at origin of places jumps from 180 NTD/600g to 230 NTD/600g and further to 280 NTD/600g at present. As the supply falls short of demand, middlemen are rushed to procure shrimp and then sort them out t distribute to restaurants and consumption markets in middle and north Taiwan.
Xu Jinshui, a local shrimp farmer, stated that the shrimp was often mix-farmed with clam and milkfish in coastal regions. But, as a result of extremely hot weather and water temperature and heavy rains, the water was polluted and water quality deteriorated, which caused the survival rate of the shrimp fry less than 30%. What’s worse was that some ponds were destroyed in whole and all the investment went in vain.
Ding Hanze, a farmer who has been farming shrimp for more than 20 years, said that the shrimp larva was purchased at 0.4-0.5 NTD each. After being farmed over 3-6 months, the shrimp would be caught and sold to market. But the water temperature hit record high after the shrimp being farmed more than one month this year. Then the heavy rains further desalinated and polluted the water, which caused the continuous disease breakout. Different shrimp larvae all suffered a low survival rate in the end. White-leg, as a result, became a kind of rare commodity, whose prices continued to rise higher and higher this year, from 180 NTD/600g to 230 NTD/600g and further to 280 NTD/600g at present, might much higher in the following days.
Some shrimp purchasers complained that they basically could buy more than 60kg each night before, but even less than 12kg at present. As a result, the market supply fell short of demand. And, therefore, the price may go up further if the water becomes hotter or more heavy rains on the way.
