Economic Analysis of White-Leg Shrimp (Penaeus vannamei) Production Case Study: Rudong County of Nantong City, Jiangsu Province, China

This paper examines the economic performance of White-leg shrimp (Penaeus vannamei) production in Rudong county of Nantong city, Jiangsu province, China. White-leg shrimp (Penaeus vannamei) production is an important economic activity in the overall farming system in China. Despite the current achievements witnessed by white-leg shrimp production, there are many challenges (high cost of production, disease, over feeding, effluent discharge, lack of technical knowledge, low educational level, inexperienced managers, among others) continuing to set back the growth of this sector in China. Three seasonal crops data in 2016 were collected from 52 white leg shrimp farmers. Descriptive statistics, profitability and regression analysis were employed in the data analysis. The study revealed that all white-leg shrimp farmers sampled were males. Most farmers (78.9%) belonged to an age group of 41-60 years with 6-10 years farming experience. Operational costs of White-leg shrimp farming accounted for 89.2% of the total cost with costs of feed, fingerlings and fuel representing 34.3%, 13.1% and 12.7% respectively. Farmers obtained an average revenue of CNY 924,359.74 (US$140,516.51)//ha from shrimp sold at an average price of CNY 43 (US$6.60)/kg and secured a net profit of CNY 378,144.55 ($57,483.63)/ha. The gross margin ratio (0.47), benefit cost ratio (0.69) and return on investment (0.69) revealed that white-leg shrimp is economically viable. Feed cost, cost of fingerling and experience showed negative significant effect on revenue at 5%, 10% and 1% respectively while farm size and average price showed positive effect on revenue at 1% level of significance.