Cooked edible shrinp are peeled by hand in the ports. One 

 worker can peel an average of about six poiinds of shrimp per hour. 

 About 6,000 persons are employed in peeling. The economic feasibility 

 of installing United States shrin5)-peeling machines is currently being 

 investigated. The yield of shringj meat from peeled shrimp fluctuates 

 between 30 to '}>S percent. The product is preserved with boric acid and 

 packed in cans of 1.6 to II4.3 pounds and in barrels of 120 pounds. The 

 barrels are sold to the restaurant and delicatessen trade. Shrimp pre- 

 served in this manner will keep up to 6 months. About 1$ percent of the 

 peeled edible shriirp is packed, after having gone through the boric-acid 

 treatment, in small family-size cans weighing from one-fifth to three- 

 fourths of a pound and is sterilized in a pressure cooker. These shrimp 

 will keep up to 1 year. There are at present 36 shrimp canners in 

 Western Germany. The majority of these firms also engage in drying 

 operations. 



A central marketing organization representing fishermen, drying 

 plants, wholesale dealers, and poultry-feed producers, is established by 

 law to coordinate supply and demand for dried shrimp used for poultry- 

 feed. The law also requires a 2-percent admixture of dried shrimp in a 

 specific type of protein-enriched poultry feed. This largely ensiires an 

 outlet for the greater part of the product of the shrimp fisheries. The 

 fixed prices at which the shringj are marketed are controlled by the 

 governments of the two coastal states in which the fisheries are located. 

 Production is scheduled on a quota basis, and producers are required to 

 deliver to the marketing organization, which acts as the intermediary 

 between producers and buyers. Other functions of the organization are 

 the promotion of consumption and the conduct of market research and 

 scientific studies financed through contributions paid ly fishermen on 

 the basis of tonnage landed. 



Poultry feed made with the admixture of dried shrimp is not 

 exported. On the contrary, dried shrinp is imported, chiefly from the 

 Netherlands, as a supplement to domestic supplies when they are insuf- 

 ficient to meet demand. Import quotas are administered by the Western 

 German government upon application by the marketing organization. 

 Western German imports of dried shrimp in recent years have totaled as 

 follows (reported from the United States Foreign Service Despatches); 



Thousand pounds 



1953 5,710 



19?!; 1,61|0 



1955 (Jan,-Nov,) 1,9^5 



22 



