Argentina red shrimp exports jump 258% as squid sales slide
Argentina's fishery exports reached US$1.677 billion in the first eight months of 2026, 23.4% more than a year earlier, and one species did most of the work. Whole red shrimp (langostino, Pleoticus muelleri) more than tripled in volume and nearly quadrupled in value. Illex squid, still the country's largest export line by value, shrank.
For buyers covering South Atlantic shrimp or squid into Q1 2027, those two lines are now moving in opposite directions on volume, price and destination mix.
The Numbers
CAPeCA, the Argentine chamber of freezer and trawler owners, compiled the figures from national statistics agency Indec. eFeedLink reported them on 20 October.
Total exports, January to August 2026: US$1.677 billion, up 23.4% year on year, on 414,252 tonnes, up 10.2%.
Whole red shrimp: US$368.7 million, up 258.3%. Volume up 205.1%. Average export price US$6,919 per tonne, up 17.4%.
Spain, the top whole red shrimp market: volumes up 279.9%, average prices up 19%.
Illex squid: close to US$480 million, down 9.3% in value and 7.8% in volume, at an average of US$2,783 per tonne.
Red shrimp tails: value up 19.4%, volume up 11.1%. Hake fillets: value up 19.6%, volume up 9.3%.
China: US$455 million, 27.2% of all exports, up 8.4%.
The arithmetic on whole red shrimp is worth checking, because price and volume rarely rise together at that scale. Volume tripled, up 205.1%, and the average price still gained 17.4%. Multiply the two and you arrive at the 258% jump in value. Spanish buyers took the extra tonnage and paid more for it.
The tails number reads differently. Value up 19.4% against volume up 11.1% implies a price gain of roughly 7%. Whole shrimp outperformed processed shrimp by a wide margin, which points to buyers wanting the raw format rather than the value-added one.
Squid went the other way. Illex value fell 9.3% on volume down 7.8%, so the average price slipped about 1.6% to US$2,783 per tonne. Argentina remains the reference origin for Illex, and the country still earned more from squid than from red shrimp in absolute money terms.
What It Means for Buyers
Start with the relative price. Whole red shrimp averaged US$6,919 per tonne across the eight months, and that average sits below the spot levels quoted for Argentine HOSO in Spain during Q3. That is what you expect when record volumes of small and medium counts are blended into one number. If your programme runs on L1 and L2 sizes, the eight-month average is not your cost. Ask for the size split before you benchmark a supplier against it.
The Spanish surge is the second point. Volumes into Spain up 279.9% with prices up 19% means the market absorbed a lot of product without collapsing. That is demand, not discounting. It also means Spanish importers are now holding inventory, and inventory holders are slow to chase the next cargo at higher prices.
For squid the read is simpler and less comfortable. A 7.8% drop in Illex volume out of Argentina removes tonnage that has no quick substitute at the same specification. Buyers who treat Illex as a commodity to pick up late in the season are exposed if the coming campaign lands short. The softer average price of US$2,783 per tonne should be read as a smaller and cheaper catch mix, not as an invitation to wait.
China at 27.2% of total value and still growing 8.4% is the structural fact underneath both lines. Chinese buyers set the marginal price for Argentine red shrimp, and they buy whole and frozen. When Chinese demand is firm, European programmes compete for the same lots and the offer window narrows.
What to Watch
CAPeCA's September and October releases, the first read on whether the red shrimp volume surge is slowing.
Illex campaign landings from December, which decide whether the price slippage stays modest.
Spanish cold-store stocks and whether holiday buying clears them before Q1.
Chinese purchase pace into Lunar New Year, the biggest single swing factor on whole red shrimp.
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This article was researched and drafted with the assistance of AI and is published for general information only. It does not constitute trading, pricing, or investment advice, and readers should verify all figures against the original sources linked above before making commercial decisions. Content on this page is partly AI-generated. Easy Seafood makes no warranty as to its accuracy or completeness.
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