Top Story: Eastern Fisheries purchases stake in key Japanese scallop supplier
News Summary Wednesday July 16, 2014
Eastern Fisheries, the largest scallop producer in the U.S., announced a further step towards vertical integration with the purchase of a minority stake in its Japanese trading partner Global Marketing Ltd. Global Marketing shipped more than 3.5 million pounds of Japanese scallops to Eastern last year. Exec. Vice President Joe Furtado said “We are continuing our commitment to vertical integration, attempting to eliminate unnecessary costs, whenever possible. This acquisition brings us one step closer to fulfilling that commitment.”
Zhangzidao’s sales practices in Beijing have been struck down by a Chinese court, which said its rules fixing the price at which scallop dealers could sell, and prohibiting them from shipping large volumes out of their local market, were illegal monopoly practices. The law suit was brought by a scallop dealer who wanted to sell below the certified price.
In the Port of Ilwaco, Washington fishermen are gearing up for albacore season, with some saying the declining price of salmon is pushing them to switch fisheries quickly.
Japan’s supply of snow crab will fall again this year, and US imports year to date through May are down sharply. For the US, this is largely a result of the late start to the Canadian season. For Japan it is a reaction to the crackdown on IUU fishing in Russia, and the price increases brought about by the weak yen.
A restaurant consultant makes the case that traditional casual dining is on the way out, and claims TGI Friday’s massive discounting is a short term fix that will simply cause customers to avoid regular priced establishments. What is interesting is the long term connection between seafood and casual dining - and if the fast casual concept replaces casual chains, that has implications for how seafood is menued in the mass foodservice market.
Finally - another sockeye run is at record levels - this time in the Columbia river. Sockeye have returned in the greatest numbers since 1938.
John Sackton, Editor And Publisher , Lexington, Massachusetts
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