The productive efficiency of shrimp farming has been pointed out in the literature as an important factor for the consolidation of this activity in Northeast Brazil. In order to assist decision making on the farm and the formulation of policies for the sector, this research investigated the degree and determinants of technical efficiency in shrimp production in Ceará State. Based on data from the Carcinculture Census, collected by the Brazilian Association of Shrimp Breeders (ABCC, 2011), 100 farms were characterized by a set of explanatory variables that describe the inputs used in the production and the way of managing the farms. To analyze data, we estimated frontier models of stochastic production efficiency. The results showed that almost all farms (99%) can be considered technically inefficient. The factor that determined the inefficiency of the sample farms was the average storage density, since other variables tested as inefficiency (which were: power of aerators per area, receipt of technical assistance and use of feed trays) were not significant at a significance level of 5%. As a result, these variables do not generate inefficiency in the model.