CANBERRA: In Australia, the price of raw, processed shrimp is poised to increase significantly due to an import ban over white spot disease, reports The Courier Mail. The Agriculture Department banned all raw, imported shrimp for six months in early January in an effort to stop an outbreak of the disease, which had contaminated five prawn farms south of Brisbane, on the Logan River. Seafood Importers Association of Australia chairman Norman Grant told the newspaper prices for processed shrimp had already increased “dramatically,” and he said it was “not out of the question” prices could triple.
The import ban had slashed up to 50% of the total volume of prawn imports arriving in Australia, he estimated. Queensland Seafood Marketers Association president Marshall Betzel told the newspaper the market was moving into “uncharted territory” but believed prices would reach a ceiling well under double current prices.
