Takeaways from AP’s report on how shrimp farmers are exploited as supermarkets push for low prices

Associated Press

BANGKOK (AP) — An investigation focused on three of the world’s largest shrimp producers claims that as big Western supermarkets make windfall profits, their aggressive pursuit of ever-lower wholesale prices is causing misery for people on the bottom end of the supply chain. The regional analysis of the industry in Vietnam, Indonesia and India — the three countries that provide about half the shrimp in the world’s top four markets — found a 20%-60% drop in earnings from pre-pandemic levels as producers struggle to meet pricing demands by cutting labor costs. In many places this has meant unpaid and underpaid work.