The prawn cocktail, staple of hotel bar menus around the world, is set to become pricier as shrimp prices jump in the wake of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
The price of domestically produced US shrimp has leapt more than 40 per cent to $6.20 per pound since the BP oil spill, according to Urner Barry, a pricing agency.
The sharp price rise reverses decades of declining prices for the world’s most important seafood commodity, whose international trade is worth about $15bn a year.
In contrast with other food commodities, such as wheat or lean hogs, shrimp does not trade on a futures exchange. Traders set prices in physical deals.
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