ANALYSIS: Early Look at Stone Crab as Shortened Season Begins

This year’s commercial stone crab season opened on October 15 under new regulations put forth by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission (FWC). The new measures are an attempt to help curb reduced harvest rates, increase survival of undersized crabs, and protect egg-bearing females. This year, crabbers will have to abide by the following: a shortened season by two weeks ending on May 2, an increase in the minimum claw size by a one -eighth inch, mandated use of escape...

ANALYSIS:  Frozen Salmon Fillets at All-time Lows

The frozen salmon fillet and portion markets have adjusted sharply lower on price over the past few weeks. Imports are at an all time high through August 2020.  

The market share in the frozen salmon fillet market is dominated by Chile, holding a 63 percent share. Norway’s market share is at 27 percent. Year-to-date Norway is up almost 20 percent, while Chile is up 19.6 percent YTD. Overall, the frozen salmon fillet market is up 24.8 percent YTD.  

Imports have...

ANALYSIS: King Crab Demand Improving During Pandemic

Upward pricing pressure continues to mount as supplies in the market for king crab remain extremely tight and inventories very thin. Supplies around the world are very light and reported demand continues to be insatiable. 

Imports released for August 2020 show a year-to-date slight decrease overall for king crab and more specifically a 0.6 percent decrease out of Russia, the dominant supplier of king crab to the U.S. market. Looking further at the breakdown between red, blue, and golden king crab from Russia...

ANALYSIS: Brazil Lobster Tail Market Reset

Seafood is, and always has been, uniquely placed when compared to other protein categories. It’s hugely reliant on the foodservice sector, and in particular, the mid-to-upper scale establishment; so, it came as no surprise that it was the most susceptible to the COVID-19 pandemic of all the main protein categories.

As one can imagine, one of the steepest price actions was observed in the lobster category. For illustrative purposes, let us look at the price action in 8 oz. Brazil origin tails...

ANALYSIS: Scallop Market Rallies into Q4

Scallop pricing throughout 2020 has wavered away from the seasonal pricing trends we have seen in previous years. At the start of the season, wholesale prices were softening earlier, but then firmed up faster in the middle to end of summer, especially on larger sized scallops where supply has been the most constrained.

While larger sized scallops are seeing upwards pressure due to a drop in landings of those sizes, 10/20 counts have also rebounded fairly quickly because this is a versatile size that lends itself to not only foodservice and...

ANALYSIS: Hard Shell Lobster Inventory Low Throughout Industry

It is not unusual for hard shell lobster prices to firm moving into the fall months. However, this year, NE hard shell select market prices have increased 50% since early August. By all accounts, stored hard shell inventory throughout the industry is low. Uncertain market conditions related to COVID-19 lockdowns and restrictions have compelled market participants to be cautious with their holdings. Typically, strong demand for the Chinese Fall Festival (Oct. 1) fuels buying interest in larger sized selects. Because pounded inventory...

ANALYSIS: EU Frozen Shrimp Imports Down Year-on-Year   

While European consumption of shrimp trended upward over the summer months, trade activity remains below pre-pandemic levels.  

Quantity 

During the 12 month period ending in June 2020, The European Union (EU) imported  43,903.47 tonnes of frozen shrimp (HS 030617) compared to 49,674.19 tonnes a year previous, or a decline in total quantity of 11.6% (year-on-year) YoY.

Value 

According to latest available trade data, The EU imported a total value of €345.65m of frozen shrimp (HS 030617) over...

ANALYSIS: July Shrimp Imports Higher By Double Digits

July shrimp imports were released Thursday and reversed the negative year-over-year trend seen the last two months. Data released showed July imports to be 12.9 percent higher than 2019 at 150.201 million (v 133.042) pounds. 

Urner Barry Consulting Economist Angel Rubio predicted the July total to come in at 148.795 million pounds.

Of our top five trade partners, outsized gains from Indonesia (+27.8%), Ecuador (+81.8%), Vietnam (+17.8%), and Thailand (+18.8%) outpaced smaller year-to-year declines from India (-4.7%) and...

ANALYSIS: Orange Roughy Demands Premium

The latest season for orange roughy from New Zealand began back in June. Since then, quotations collected on new product have been demanding a premium compared to previous seasons. Currently, 6-8 ounce-sized fillets are averaging $7.75/pound when a year ago prices were $0.55 lower.

Import volume for the first half of the year remains in good shape with the 2020 January through June year-to-date figure of 1.8 million pounds registering 21 percent above the previous 5-year average...

ANALYSIS: Imported Scallops Seeing Competition from Domestic Supply

The smaller sized, slow-growing scallops located within the Nantucket Lightship Deep-South Area have created more opportunities for domestic product here in the U.S. Tariff and COVID-19 related setbacks aside, importers usually look to China bay scallops for the petite product at a value, however, as fishermen clear out the harvest from this area, new marketing opportunities for this class of scallops is emerging, overlapping with China bay scallop applications.

In looking at the latest import data, while 2020 year-to-date...

ANALYSIS: Cod Market Unsettled

The market for both Atlantic and Pacific cod remains slightly unsettled as we enter the eighth month of 2020. While some species have swiftly rebounded amid COVID-19 restrictions and reopenings, cod has seen a slower resurgence as demand picks up and slows down, unwilling to follow seasonal trends.

Prior to COVID-19, Atlantic cod was under upwards pricing pressure due to additional costs associated with the tariffs which will be under review in the coming weeks. In addition, the market saw a healthy demand leading into...

ANALYSIS: Farmed Salmon Taking a Hit as COVID-19 Cases Increase Around the Country

Farmed salmon has begun to take a hit from restaurant closures and upticks in COVID-19 cases around the country. Last week the whole fish markets out of both the Northeast, West Coast, and Chile adjusted drastically lower. 12-14 West Coast Seattle whole dropped 10.3 percent from last week or $0.30.  

After a large uptick from almost all farmed salmon items from the middle of June through the week of July 4, the market appears to be dealing with an oversupply situation...

ANALYSIS: European Imports of Frozen Shrimp Dip in April as Quarantine Issues Linger

As pandemic-induced bottlenecks remain a hindrance to dining options, imports of frozen shrimp continue to filter into European ports, albeit at a lesser pace.

Key Exporters

While demand at foodservice is gradually on the up, Asian and Latin American farmers have had to contend with low farm gate prices, with prices in Ecuador and India among the worst hit.

The EU imported a total value of €25.95 million worth of frozen shrimp from India—the largest exporter of shrimp into Europe...

ANALYSIS: Spanish Octopus Holds Premium Amid Lackluster Sales

Unlike other species who have seen a rise in sales within the retail sector the second quarter of the year, octopus, for the American consumer, continues to be a protein reserved exclusively for the out-of-home dining experience. Octopus sales here in the U.S. are slow to rebound as restaurants and foodservice establishments are allowing limited capacity for indoor and outdoor seating.

Sales into Europe, on the other hand, are strong, supporting raw material and replacement prices in line with pre-quarantine...

ANALYSIS: Imports of Shrimp Products from Saudi Arabia Spike

We look for anomalies in data in order to point out trends that may be emerging in the marketplace. One that stood out recently is the increase in shipments from Saudi Arabia. While small in comparison to other supplying countries, deliveries from Saudi Arabia to the U.S. are up 920% through April, totaling 1.12 million pounds. In 2019, we imported a total of 2.15 million pounds and in the previous two years, zero after seeing growth between 2015 and 2016...

ANALYSIS: Downwards Pressure on the Mussel Market

The market for New Zealand and Chile origin mussels are seeing downwards pricing pressure. Discounts are emerging across all sizes of New Zealand Green Shell mussels where the supply of small-sized New Zealand mussels are the thinnest among all sizes.  Chilean mussel meat is also seeing some weakness as it is largely a foodservice item...

ANALYSIS: Pangasius Imports Flat, YTD totals Retreat

August import figures of 11.05 million pounds show pangasius frozen fillets came in flat to the previous month, trailing 1,270 lbs. from July. On a year-to-date basis, 2020 has totaled 72.9 million pounds from January through August, the lowest YTD total since 2010 brought in 71.5 million pounds for the same timeframe.

So far this year, each month has fallen well below the previous 3-year average for import volume, while wholesale prices gradually weakened the first half of the year...

ANALYSIS: August Shrimp Imports Set All-Time Record

August shrimp imports were released today to a record monthly figure of 181.289 million pounds, 17.2 percent higher than last year’s 154.698 million pounds, and 10.1 percent above the previous high seen in October 2018.

Urner Barry Consulting Economist Angel Rubio predicted the August total to come in at 186 million pounds.

All the top five trade partners contributed to the gains. Positive year-over-year imports were seen from India (+6.6%), Ecuador (+106.5%), Indonesia (+17.2%), Vietnam (+7.2%), and...

ANALYSIS: Demand Picks Up for Larger Grades of Blue Swimming Crab Meat

The blue swimming crab meat market has remained somewhat stagnant for most of 2020, and before that, most of 2019. Individual inventory positions on all of the grades of crab meat were generally high coming off of a large upswing during the first half of 2018. From the summer of 2018 through most of 2019, the jumbo lump market for blue crab meat, along with many of the other grades, adjusted lower throughout most of that time period...

ANALYSIS: Russian Snow Crab Pricing, Market Share Continues to Climb

Russian snow crab imports have been climbing during 2020. Due to overall popularity and demand for snow crab this year, Russian snow crab appears to be filling a much-needed hole in the marketplace.

Overall imports of snow crab, due to the heavy dominance from Canada, follows a cyclical pattern each year. As the start of the Canadian season is in the late spring, an enormous jump in imports is seen during the month of May. June and July are typically higher import months but...

ANALYSIS: Overall King Crab Imports Down 5.4%; 9-12 Russian Reds at 52-Week High

Through the first seven months of the year king crab imports from Russia, the primary supplier in this category, are down 6 percent year-to-date and overall king crab is down 5.4 percent YTD. However, when taking a look a the breakdown between red and blue king crab out of Russia, Russian red is actually up 19.6 percent YTD while Russian blue crab is down 62.1 percent. In 2019 the breakdown YTD was 8.4 million Russian red versus 4.4 Russian blue...

ANALYSIS: Chilean Truck Strike Continues into Day 5; Salmon Market Undertone Full Steady to Firm

As the Chilean national trucking strike continues into day 5, supplies in the spot market are expected to tighten up significantly. Market participants report that arrangements are being made to continue to get fish out of Chile, but that airspace is limited. Many of the suppliers truck processed salmon from Puerto Montt up to the capital city of Santiago where the fresh fish is then flown into the U.S. market. Some suppliers are trying to secure flights out of...

ANALYSIS: Farmed Salmon Market Continues to Show Weakness

The farmed salmon market continues to be impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, coupled with a historical summer seasonal slowdown. Most years during the month of August, Chilean farmed fresh fillets are fairly stable. Looking at the past five years, 60 percent of the time the market has maintained an extremely steady pattern. In 2015 the market did dip lower, while in 2016 the market firmed. 2020 appears to be more closely following the 2015 trend. 

Taking a look at the 5-year...

ANALYSIS: June Snow Crab Imports Significantly Higher Than Cyclical Behavior; Up 47% From June 2019

June 2020 imports, released on August 5, are above 2019 levels. According to the data, year-to-date levels are up 3.3 percent. On a month-to-month basis, imports in June were higher than imports in May 2020 by 24.2 percent. When comparing to June 2019 is where we see the most significant upward comparison of 47 percent higher than the same time last year. Overall snow crab imports are also 47 percent higher than the 3-year average...

ANALYSIS: Tilapia Tariff Exemption Coming to End

August 7, 2020 marks the last day for tilapia frozen fillets, weighing no more than 115 grams, to be granted an exemption of the 25% tariff on product imported into the country from China. The industry awaits to see if there will be an extension granted on these smaller sized fillets, weighing approximately 4 ounces or less.

Logistically, this week marks an end to shipping product that will qualify for the exclusion, so there is potential the industry sees a slowdown in overseas buying...

ANALYSIS: Frozen Tuna Imports Decline 31% in May

Total imports of frozen tuna fillets for the month of May declined 31.6% from the previous month and are 45% less than compared to May 2019. YTD total import volume is down 8.4% compared to this time last year, registering 33.3 million pounds. However, for the first four months of the year, Jan-April 2020, total imports registered 28.5 million pounds, a 3% increase over the same period last year. It must be noted that 2019 recorded the highest import volume at 90 million pounds...

ANALYSIS: Pangasius - Below Average Imports, Optimistic Outlook

Imports of pangasius frozen fillets for the month of May diminished 38.2 percent, falling 3.8 million pounds from the previous month. Compared to the same month one year ago, however, volume saw an increase of 7.4 percent, noting that May 2019 marked the lowest May on record for pangasius imports since 2007.

Compared to the previous three-year average for the month of May, May 2020 falls 48 percent below average. So far, every single month of 2020 has fallen below the previous...

ANALYSIS: May Shrimp Imports Decline 29.4 Percent

May shrimp imports were released today and in-line with expectations of the first year-over-year decline. That data showed May imports at 83.357 million pounds, 29.4 percent below May 2019. This was near the forecast by Urner Barry Consulting in early June. 

Of our top five trade partners, a change of leadership was seen with gains only from Indonesia (+10.5%), pushing this country to the number one spot. Less shrimp was shipped from India (-57.8%), Ecuador (-25.2%), Vietnam (-8.7%), and...

ANALYSIS: Pricing For Snow Crab Above Year-to-Date Levels 

The snow crab market has seen large swings upwards the past two weeks and has been trending higher since the beginning of the season.  

All sizes of snow crab out of both the Gulf and Newfoundland have moved higher and pricing levels for all sizes are above year-to-date levels from the previous year.  

5-8s are still below YTD levels seen in 2018, but with the increases seen in the market yesterday, 2020 quotations for 5-8s are now trending...