TABLE IV - 28. —AVERAGE COST OF PRODUCTION AND OPERATING 

 PROFIT AND LOSS OF TYPICAL SHRIMP VESSEI5 

 1952, 1953 AND 19Sh 



Region I Region II Region III Region IV 



Item 9 vessels 1/ 2 vessels 12 vessels 13 vessels 



1953 1951; 1952 1953 195U 1952 1953 I95ii "l952 1953 195U 



( Cents per pound ) 

 Gross 



receipts 62.30 1^7.27 62.80 62.37 1^6.16 1^1. 1^7 50.6o 36.79 50.06 60.68 lil.61i 

 Costs of 



production 1+8.07 14;. 76 1+0.60 US.Ol; 50.99 33.05 1;0.21 30.35 la.05 1+7.00 1+1.25 

 Profit or 



loss 11+.23 2.51 22.20 11+.33 -1;.83 8.1+2 10.39 6.1+1+ 9.01 13.68 .39 



1/ Data for 1952 insufficient for comparison. 



Note: Table covers only vessels for which complete information for the three years 

 was furnished. 



The break-even analysis in a later section of this chapter, in 

 addition to showing data for the operations for which complete inforriiation 

 is available for tliree years, includes summaries for all operations in the 

 Federal Trade Commssion sample. 



When details for indi\'idual operations are coi.pared, vd.de vari- 

 ations in cost of production are noted. In 195U production costs in 

 Region I ranged from 15. 9U cents per pound of shrirp taken for one (der- 

 ation in the Carolinas (Vessel B) to 65.70 cents per pound for a vessel 

 operating out of Brunswick, Georgia (Vessel I) (see table IV - 18). 



The two operations, one s. lowing a profit, the other one a loss, 

 were among the smaller in the sajnple with catches of 8,581+ and 5,927 

 pounds of shripp (heads-off) and total expenses of $1,368 and ^^3,891+ 

 respectively, for the year. 



Size of catch, the same table shows, varied substantially from 

 vessel to vessel ranging from as low as l,52l+ pounds for an owner-skip- 

 pered vessel in the Carolinas (Vessel A ) to 39,377 pounds for a Thunder- 

 bolt, Georgia, operation (Vessel D) . Catches of individual vessels in 

 other regions during the same year (195M were as high as 63,1+07 pounds 

 on the west coast of Florida, Region II (see Vessel A, table IV - 21) j 

 57,225 pounds in the northern Gulf, Region III (see Vessel J, table IV - 

 21+) J and 95,392 pounds in Texas, Region IV (see Vessel M, table TJ - 27). 



As indicated by table IV-28, there was a marked similarity in 

 the fluctuations of fjross receipts, costs, and profits in Region III 

 (Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana) and Region IV (Texas) over the 

 three-year period. The year 1953 saw a steep rise in the price received 

 for the catch, amoimting to about 20 percent in each of the two areas. 

 This boost in prices was more than eradicated during the drastic decline 

 in the market in 1951;, when average receipts in the two areas amounted 

 to about 36-1/2 and Ul-l/2 cents, respectively. Profits fluctuated in 

 corresponding fashion. The fluctuations in costs were somewhat less 

 pronounced than the fluctuations in receipts which accounts for the poor 

 profit showing in 1951;, particularly in Texas (Region IV) where most 

 operators barely broke even. 



Results of operations in Region I (south Atlantic) and II (west 

 coast of Florida) apparently did not differ substantially from those in 

 the other two regions; the pattern here, though, is somewhat less clear 



191 



