and storing; or they confine themselves to the storage of shrimp processed 

 by others. In the latter instance, the freezers do not own the shrimp. 

 Because of warehouse limitations, they often store for an individual cus- 

 tomer only long enough to accumulate a full truckload. The customer must 

 then either sell the product in the local market or ship it farther inland 

 to cold storage warehouses . 



Processing establishments specializing in freezing, breading or 

 canning act in a variety of ways in the market process. Sometimes their 

 buying organizations take over the assembling function in the coastal 

 market. At other times they may branch out into wholesale distribution 

 of their finished product. 



The national wholesalers of processed shrimp are probably the 

 most important single price-determining agents. Their position in the 

 distributive mechanism is very favorable inasmuch as they are able to 

 analyze consumer demand and supply simultaneously. Since they do not 

 limit themselves to any particular locality in making their purchases, 

 the prices quoted by them to suppliers may affect the market throughout 

 the entire shrimp-producing area of the country. The ex-vessel price 

 paid to the fishermen then becomes dependent upon the nationally- quoted 

 buyers' price. 



Occasionally, complaints to the effect that the market is 

 rigged by individual buyers are encountered in the industry. On closer 

 analysis these claims are not confirmed. Obviously, when a buyer's 

 market develops, buyers will take advantage of the situation, just as 

 obviously as individual sellers in times of a seller's market will try 

 to sell to the highest bidder regardless of continuity and stability of 

 trading relationships. Rarely, however, will a few individuals gain a 

 position where they can control the price to their advantage. 



In each area, according to generally held beliefs, there is 

 a tendency for one segment or another of the industry to set the price 

 for the local market. In New Orleans, large canneries are said to 

 dominate the price picture. In Mississippi control of prices has been 

 said to rest with the fishermen's union. In Alabama, the trade seems 

 to be convinced that the breaders determine prices paid for shrimp, 

 and in Texas this power is ascribed to the large coast-wide buyers 

 for breaders or freezers. 



Actually, it appears that no single group has sufficient 

 economic control of the market to set prices. The prices, as ultimately 

 negotiated, result from a compromise. Evidence of the power of individ- 

 ual interest groups participating in price negotiations in specific 

 markets can be found. In the Biloxi area where about 85 percent of the 

 shrimp landed are canned, and a similar percentage of the larger boats 

 are cannery-ovmed, the cannery's offering price frequently becomes the 

 price at which sales actually are transacted. This has been true only 

 since the antitrust conviction of the local fishermen's union. 



