Argentina cod exports rise 10% in both volume and value; shrimp prices fall 40 US cents per kg with 2026 season prices to be set after Christmas

On 22 October 2026, the Argentine fisheries port weekly Revista Puerto published an interview with Nicolás Cagliolo, sales director of Estrella Patagónica (EPSA), and Camila Brriel, foreign trade specialist at Arbumasa, discussing the position of Argentine seafood products in international markets. The year-on-year difference highlighted in the interview is whitefish: demand and prices are both better than in 2025; shrimp, by contrast, are sustaining sales volumes through lower prices, and both interviewees believe the business model still needs rethinking to avoid a return to negative returns. The variables they consider most important are: safeguarding quality, reducing fishing, and investing in promotion.

Cagliolo said demand for some products is stable, with cod as an example: "both land-processed and vessel-processed products are finding steady demand." He said prices for some products have risen, others are flat, and some products can even support greater market investment, such as frozen-at-sea HGT (headed, gutted, trimmed) cod. He attributed this recovery to problems in the South African and Namibian fishing grounds, as well as some difficulties on the US side. Cagliolo believes that stable Argentine hake (merluza hubbsi) production makes companies competitive and able to remain in the market on a sustained basis. The latest official export data from the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INDEC) support this assessment: in September, cod exports grew 10% year on year in both volume and price.

On shrimp, Cagliolo described a more uncertain situation: not a lack of resource, but a lack of a clear development strategy. The 2026 shrimp season in Argentine waters left two issues of concern to companies: the entire fleet caught large volumes of shrimp extremely quickly, and quality problems affected a considerable part of the chilled fleet.

On fishing speed, the EPSA commercial head said it ultimately affects everyone, "beyond the logistics problems it creates." He explained that customers still apply purchasing logic from longer seasons and carry it over to these new cycles, complicating sales: "in some cases they wait for certain price reactions that then do not materialise; by the time they decide to buy, the product is no longer there, or has already gone to another market." Cagliolo also warned that this behaviour is spreading to other resources: "I think this is starting to happen with all products, namely good volumes corresponding to shorter seasons. Last year squid showed similar behaviour, and so did last year's Rawson shrimp season; this year we will see what happens, but it will likely repeat, so we have to get used to this new reality."

The discussion of chilled-fleet product quality becomes concrete when entering the market. Cagliolo noted: "This was a season with a very high proportion of damaged product, and its final selling price does not help; it is hard to make a profit, and this season in Argentine waters that was very clear. They struggled to catch, and that is reflected in quality." He explained that the consequences pass directly into commercialisation: "the final product you can produce is a problem when selling, because you had also planned specific sales, and with that kind of product you ultimately cannot deliver. You cannot fulfil commitments, the product is sold at a completely different price, and it ends up in a different position in the market." He stressed: "We have always emphasised that the quality characteristics of our products are different from other species, and this must be reflected in the average quality of the product entering the market."

Prices for the 2026 season will not be finalised until January 2027, after the European Christmas sales end. Cagliolo said prices have already fallen 40 US cents per kg compared with the 2025 season.

Brriel believes higher prices cannot be sustained against a backdrop of abundant supply: "We should catch less. Every product in the world is rising in price except shrimp, because we catch too much; the only way to sell at a higher price is to have less product." She recalled that prices recovered at the end of 2025 after a low-catch season, and believes that returning afterwards to the usual volumes was a mistake: prices fell and buyers "postponed demand, precisely waiting for prices to fall."

Argentine sales, especially of shrimp, depend heavily on the Spanish market. According to successive FAO-MAPA conferences held in Vigo, Spanish demand has been declining for five consecutive years. To reduce this dependence, Cagliolo proposed the need to "develop a personalised strategy for each market." As for Spain, the country has historically consumed whole shrimp, and he observes that as the habits of younger generations change, supply should also adjust: "We can communicate a lot about the product, but we cannot go against what consumers will demand. So we must adapt to these new cultures and adjust products to suit each market."

Brriel warned that competition in shrimp is intense. It is not only whiteleg shrimp (vannamei) but also other wild species which, unlike Argentine shrimp, have a more neutral flavour and adapt better to any taste. Even so, markets such as Italy and Spain still prefer the Argentine product. She believes France should be a natural target market, where Argentine shrimp has not yet established itself, as became evident at the "Argentina Week" event held in Paris. "A good marketing campaign should be run to make the French aware of it, because I am convinced it could be a good market. But you have to invest in marketing so that the French know what Argentine shrimp is and are willing to buy it, because if the end consumer does not know the product, importers will not take the risk. It needs to be built up the way the Norwegians did with salmon years ago, when they ran a strong promotion and salmon was talked about everywhere. The same should be done for shrimp in France, Germany and Greece; there are many countries where markets can be opened up, but it must be done with a campaign that makes the product known."

Both interviewees said their views are commercial rather than political, and that the points needing attention to improve the positioning of shrimp are clear. Both value certification, which is very helpful, but a fishing strategy needs to be put forward, along with serious investment to make the product known and give it value.