The United States imported 6.3 billion pounds of edible seafood products in 2023, with a total import value of $25.5 billion. Seafood imports supplied an estimated 80% of seafood eaten in the country that year, making international trade central to the seafood available to American cooks and diners. NOAA, Fisheries of the United States; USDA ERS, U.S. Seafood Imports Expand as Domestic Aquaculture Industry Repositions Itself
Contents
- U.S. seafood import scale and value
- Import reliance and the trade balance
- What the SIMP measure includes
- Shrimp import volume from 2019 to 2023
- Shrimp import value from 2019 to 2023
- Shrimp supplier shares in 2019 and 2020
- Shrimp supplier shares from 2021 to 2023
U.S. seafood import scale and value
The national 2023 totals show the scale of seafood entering the United States. NOAA reported 6.3 billion pounds of edible seafood products imported during 2023. USDA Economic Research Service reported the total value of U.S. imported seafood at $25.5 billion for the same calendar year. These figures describe different measures: the NOAA total is edible seafood product weight, while the USDA value series covers farm-raised and wild-caught fish and seafood. They should be read together as scale and value, not converted into a single implied average price. NOAA, Fisheries of the United States; USDA ERS, U.S. Seafood Imports Expand as Domestic Aquaculture Industry Repositions Itself
USDA’s 2023 import-value breakdown identifies five major supplier countries:
| Supplier | Share of U.S. seafood import value, 2023 |
|---|---|
| Canada | 14.1% |
| Chile | 13.0% |
| India | 10.0% |
| Indonesia | 7.9% |
| Vietnam | 6.4% |
Canada supplied the largest listed share, 14.1%, and delivered more than $3.6 billion in seafood products to the United States in 2023. Chile supplied 13.0% of import value, followed by India at 10.0%, Indonesia at 7.9%, and Vietnam at 6.4%. The percentages are shares of import value, so they describe the monetary composition of the trade rather than the physical volume supplied by each country. USDA ERS, U.S. Seafood Imports Expand as Domestic Aquaculture Industry Repositions Itself
Import reliance and the trade balance
The 2023 import figures sit within a heavily import-reliant seafood market. NOAA estimated that 80% of seafood eaten in the United States came from foreign imports in 2023. A separate USDA ERS discussion, citing NOAA statistics, reported that more than 79% of seafood consumed domestically was imported in 2020. The two figures refer to different years, so they are best treated as period-specific measures of reliance rather than as one continuous estimate. NOAA, Fisheries of the United States; USDA ERS, U.S. Seafood Imports Expand as Domestic Aquaculture Industry Repositions Itself
The United States recorded a seafood trade deficit of $20.3 billion in 2023. Over the longer period from 1995 to 2021, the inflation-adjusted value of U.S. seafood imports increased 133%. The direction changed after 2021: the inflation-adjusted value fell 19.7% from 2021 to 2023. These are value movements, and the later decline does not by itself describe a matching change in pounds of imported seafood. USDA ERS, U.S. Seafood Imports Expand as Domestic Aquaculture Industry Repositions Itself
What the SIMP measure includes
NOAA’s fiscal-year 2023 Seafood Import Monitoring Program report provides a narrower view. Seafood species covered by SIMP accounted for 773,238,048 kilograms of U.S. imports in fiscal year 2023, valued at $6,432,182,862. The report covers products under SIMP-flagged Harmonized Tariff Schedule codes, so its totals are not interchangeable with the broader calendar-year national totals.
The SIMP report also recorded a sharp year-over-year decrease in its broader comparison series. Overall U.S. seafood imports fell from 4.8 billion kilograms in fiscal year 2022 to 2.4 billion kilograms in fiscal year 2023, while their value declined from approximately $25 billion to approximately $22 billion. Within the SIMP-covered category, imports declined from 1.2 billion kilograms in fiscal year 2022 to 773 million kilograms in fiscal year 2023.
On the report’s stated comparison, SIMP-covered seafood imports represented approximately 32% of all seafood imports by volume and approximately 30% by value in fiscal year 2023. The percentages describe the SIMP-covered share of the fiscal-year comparison, not the share of the 6.3 billion pounds in NOAA’s calendar-year 2023 edible-seafood total. NOAA, SIMP Report FY 2023
Shrimp import volume from 2019 to 2023
Shrimp provides a detailed product example within the broader seafood trade. The United States imported 1,235.1 million pounds of shrimp products in 2019. Volume edged up to 1,268.8 million pounds in 2020, then reached 1,554.3 million pounds in 2021. It declined to 1,401.6 million pounds in 2022 and 1,351.7 million pounds in 2023.
| Year | U.S. shrimp imports (million pounds) |
|---|---|
| 2019 | 1,235.1 |
| 2020 | 1,268.8 |
| 2021 | 1,554.3 |
| 2022 | 1,401.6 |
| 2023 | 1,351.7 |
The shrimp series therefore shows its highest reported volume in 2021, followed by lower volumes in each of the next two years. The figures are product weight in million pounds. The source notes that the shrimp table excludes heavily processed shrimp products such as frozen dinners, so the series is not a measure of every food product containing shrimp. NOAA, Modification of the Vessel Position Data Collection Program for the Gulf of Mexico Shrimp Fishery
Shrimp import value from 2019 to 2023
The same shrimp series reports import value in millions of inflation-adjusted 2023 dollars. Shrimp imports were worth $5,607 million in 2019 and $5,613 million in 2020. Value then rose to $6,890 million in 2021, before falling to $5,989 million in 2022 and $4,837 million in 2023.
| Year | Shrimp import value (millions of inflation-adjusted 2023 dollars) |
|---|---|
| 2019 | $5,607 |
| 2020 | $5,613 |
| 2021 | $6,890 |
| 2022 | $5,989 |
| 2023 | $4,837 |
The peak value in this five-year series was also in 2021. By 2023, the reported inflation-adjusted value was below the 2019 and 2020 levels, while the 2023 physical volume remained above both of those years. That comparison is limited to the supplied shrimp series and should not be extended to all seafood imports. NOAA, Modification of the Vessel Position Data Collection Program for the Gulf of Mexico Shrimp Fishery
Shrimp supplier shares in 2019 and 2020
The leading shrimp suppliers changed their shares between 2019 and 2020. India accounted for 49% of U.S. shrimp imports in 2019, followed by Indonesia at 18% and Ecuador at 14%. Mexico accounted for 5%, while Vietnam accounted for 2%.
In 2020, India’s share was 41%. Ecuador’s share rose to 21%, and Indonesia’s rose to 20%. Vietnam accounted for 4%, while Mexico accounted for 4%.
| Supplier | 2019 | 2020 |
|---|---|---|
| India | 49% | 41% |
| Ecuador | 14% | 21% |
| Indonesia | 18% | 20% |
| Vietnam | 2% | 4% |
| Mexico | 5% | 4% |
Within the five listed countries, India’s share decreased between these two years, while Ecuador’s share increased by the larger reported movement. These are shares of U.S. shrimp imports, not shares of total U.S. seafood import value. NOAA, Modification of the Vessel Position Data Collection Program for the Gulf of Mexico Shrimp Fishery
Shrimp supplier shares from 2021 to 2023
India remained the largest listed source in each year from 2021 through 2023. Its share was 43% in 2021, 40% in 2022, and 41% in 2023. Ecuador ranked second in each of those years, increasing from 25% in 2021 to 30% in 2022 and 32% in 2023.
| Supplier | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|
| India | 43% | 40% | 41% |
| Ecuador | 25% | 30% | 32% |
| Indonesia | 17% | 17% | 15% |
| Vietnam | 5% | 4% | 4% |
| Mexico | 3% | 3% | 3% |
Indonesia accounted for 17% of U.S. shrimp imports in both 2021 and 2022, then 15% in 2023. Vietnam’s share was 5% in 2021 and 4% in both 2022 and 2023. Mexico accounted for 3% in each of the three years.
The five-country pattern shows India holding the leading position while Ecuador’s reported share expanded across the period. Because the source reports supplier shares rather than shipment-level quantities here, the table should be read as the composition of U.S. shrimp imports by country for each year. It does not establish the value, price, or sustainability profile of any supplier. NOAA, Modification of the Vessel Position Data Collection Program for the Gulf of Mexico Shrimp Fishery