Retailers slamming shrimp for the holidays, as promotional volume, prices both up significantly
Retailers appear to betting big on shrimp for this holiday season reports John Sackton. Urner Barry retail data shows increases in both shrimp promotional volume and prices in the second week after Thanksgiving. Higher prices were also noted among shrimp promotions even though the wholesale market been in a downturn. According to Sackton the push to sell more volume at retail means that if holiday sales are healthy, there will not be a big inventory carryover coming into the spring. Taken with other positive economic signs in the US such as lower gas prices, shrimp producers and sellers could be in store for a positive 2015.
Frozen halibut supplies could be in danger if expected cuts are levied against the Bering Sea fishery this January. Over a decade of declining halibut stocks has resulted in cuts to the Pacific halibut quota, with another proposed reduction planned for 2015. As it stands now the allowable halibut bycatch for the regions’ major trawl fleets exceeds that of the hook and line and fleet. “The problem is we are running out of rope. We have one more move: We can close the (Bering Sea) fishery,” said Bob Alverson, head of a Seattle-based fishing trade association and a U.S. representative to the IPHC , which sets limits on halibut fishing. “That’s going to be devastating if we have to do that.”
In other news the Northern California and Oregon Dungeness fishery is producing good quality crabs, but the season’s catch is down dramatically. Harvesters are now predicting the Oregon fishery to be down about 40% from last year’s 14.3 million pounds, with California likely down 50%. Meanwhile, the price at the dock has risen to $3.50, and most packers have extended that retroactively back to December 1st, when the fishery opened with an initial price of $3.10.
Finally, Newfoundland's Association of Seafood Producers (ASP) cautioned today that the Canada-EU trade deal has major benefits for seafood exporters, and said they oppose any actions the Province might take to be disruptive. “We have long faced punitive tariffs in the EU market, and the chance now to have them removed represents an historical opportunity. That is the win in CETA, ” said Derek Butler, executive director for the ASP.
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