Collapse of Pollock Prices in China one Reason for Price Stand-off in Gulf of Alaska
The collapse of pollock prices in China may be driving down the market for the Gulf of Alaska A season catch reports John Sackton. In January, H&G Pollock prices for product shipped to China for further processing fell to their lowest levels since 2005. A significant portion of the Gulf fishery is shipped as H&G fish to China. Another factor is currency, since the strength of the US dollar and weakness of the Russian rouble makes dollar denominated products from Russia much cheaper and is another reason for the huge decline in dollar Pollock prices.
Warm Gulf of Maine waters are setting up the region’s lobster stock for another early shed similar to 2012. At the time warm waters caused a peak harvesting period of new-shell lobsters in May, weeks ahead of schedule. As a result, prices paid to lobstermen fell to as low as $2 a pound. However, Maine’s lobster representatives say the industry and the market are better prepared to handle an early influx of new-shell product if that’s the case in 2016.
In other news shrimp imports to the US market were the second highest ever on record in 2015 at 1.29 billion pounds. The figure was just 8.9 million pounds short of hitting the all-time high set in 2006.
Finally, Portland, Oregon’s Fishpeople inked a major distribution deal with Walmart by appeal to the retailer’s commitment to source more of its products domestically. Fishpeople’s product line features just 10 seafood species responsibly sourced from US fisheries in the Pacific Northwest. Walmart made a commitment to buy $250 billion worth of US-made products by 2023. “Fishpeople are not only a U.S. manufacturing success story but they also are sustainable in how they’re harvesting and processing. They hit both responsibility areas for our company that we’re investing in,” said Cindi Marsiglio, vice-president of U.S. manufacturing at Wal-Mart.
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