In terms of days' supply on hand these inventories repre- 

 sented over ill days of fresh and frozen, 20 days of breaded frozen un- 

 cooked, 11 days of breaded frozen cooked, 60 days of canned, and 17 

 days of shrimp specialty requirements. The fact that relatively much 

 higher stocks of canned than fresh or frozen shrimp products were kept 

 is explained by the greater perishability of the latter products and the 

 competition of other frozen fish suid shellfish and non-seafood products 

 for limited space in retail display cabinets. 



Retail Activity in Shrimp Products 



The division of shrimp retail sales and inventories by princi- 

 pal products is illustrated in figure VI - 6. 



The average monthly sales voliane (determined from the bi-monthly 

 national totals computed from the sample data) and the average inventory 

 per store haxidling shrimp are shown in figure VI - ?• On the average, 

 stores handling fresh and bulk-frozen shrimp sold 28l pounds in a month 

 and had over 122 pounds on hand at any given time . Average volume of 

 sales and inventories of packaged frozen and canned shrimp products per 

 store were substantially smaller. 



Prices and Gross Profits 



Retailer gross profits on shrimp and shrimp products were 

 determined by comparing retail prices with retail purchasing costs. 



The average cost to the consumer of a pound of fresh and bulk- 

 frozen shrimp during the months of August and September 1955 was 7^ cents. 

 The prices paid at retail for frozen products ranged from an average of 

 91 cents per pound of frozen headless to $1.09 per pound of frozen cooked 

 breaded shrimp. Camned shrimp was most expensive with consumers paying 

 on the average $1.53 per pound for this product. 



Average costs per pound to the retailer were obtained by 

 dividing pounds purchased into dollar billings as taken directly from 

 the invoices of the suppliers. Figure VI - 8 compares these costs with 

 consumer prices and shows retailers' gross profits both in dollars per 

 pound of product sold and as percentages of consumer prices. 



The figures indicate that retailer pricing during the two 

 survey months v:as based on markups of 21-1/2 cents for both fresh and 

 packaged and -unpackaged frozen headless shrimp, 27 cents for breaded 

 shrimp, cooked or lincooked, and 35-1/2 cents for canned shrimp. In per- 

 centage terms, the biggest margin (calculated as a percent of sales 

 price) was on fresh shrimp (29.0 percent), the smallest on canned 

 shrimp (23.3 percent). 



29 



