ANALYSIS: As The World Turns for Farmed Salmon…  

Surpassing the $5.00 threshold in the Chilean fresh fillet market for 3-4 pound fillets and maintaining that price almost three weeks in a row was not something that many could have predicted heading into the 2020 holiday season. However, as we close out the second full week of January and are now into the middle of the month, the undertone in the fresh fillet market looks to be somewhat supportive of current pricing.

Presently fresh Chilean 3-4 pound fillets have...  

ANALYSIS: China Bay Scallop Imports Continue Downwards Trend

It started with tariffs, followed by poor harvests, COVID-19, the U.S. dollar devaluation, skyrocketing freight costs, and recently a new outbreak in northern China creating additional setbacks, the market for China Bay scallops has seen better days here in the United States.

The average import volume from 2015 through 2018 was 21 million pounds, 2019 was the first year to see a major drop off of imports from China totaling less than 8 million pounds, while 2020 is anticipated to be...

ANALYSIS: November Shrimp Imports Ease Slightly From Last Year

November shrimp imports were released today and show a slight decline (-0.6%) from last year to 148.306 million pounds. This is the first time since June that there was a decline, although the pace was smaller than expected.

Urner Barry Consulting Economist Angel Rubio forecast 140.631 million pounds for this month.

Of the top five trade partners, India (-15.5%) and Thailand (-4.5%) sent less to the United States. This continued to be on trend from last month. Indonesia (+12.2%), Ecuador...

ANALYSIS: Farmed Salmon Market Continues to See Upward Pricing Pressure

The farmed salmon market continues to see upward pricing pressure

The farmed salmon market continues to see upward pricing pressure and significant price increases.

A lack of available supplies into the spot market, especially out of Chile, is causing quotations to rise. Many buyers report that supplies are falling short of their full needs. Active buyers are reported at retail, and their demand is helping to keep supplies in the spot market light.  

The market on 3-4-pound fresh...

ANALYSIS: Tilapia Imports Highest Since 2016

Total tilapia imports including fresh and frozen whole fish, and fresh and frozen fillets increased 5 percent collectively from the previous month, and 10.9 percent compared to October 2019. Year-to-date imports reign 16.4 percent above 2019, bringing in 367.8 million pounds of tilapia into the country, a volume not seen since 2016 brought in 369.2 million pounds for the same timeframe...

ANALYSIS: Live Lobster Market Unsettled as Canadian Fishing Season Begins

There has been much anticipation ahead of the opening of the Canadian lobster fishing seasons in LFA 33-34, the two largest producing zones. LFA 33 opened on time on November 30, however, LFA 34 has been delayed once again, looking at Saturday, December 5 as a drop date, weather permitting. A decision will be announced later shortly.  There is concern that each delay, coupled with the increasing pent-up demand for product and the late start may lead to...

ANALYSIS: COVID-19 Leads to Atypical Start to December for Norwegian Whole Salmon

The Norwegian whole salmon market has been on a volatile ride for all of 2020. From a historical standpoint, the month of December would mean a rise in pricing heading into the Christmas holiday season. Along with holiday parties and foodservice activity, smokers in Europe are typically active buyers leading up to the holidays. All these activities are of course almost non-existent due to lockdowns and mounting COVID restrictions. Currently, the 6-7 kg Norwegian whole salmon market is...

ANALYSIS: Pass the Salmon for Thanksgiving 2020

Sweet potatoes are not the only orange thing on the Thanksgiving table this year.

Retail features or buying opportunities for salmon look abnormal this year, up 75 percent from the previous week and up 61 percent from the same time last year. In total there are over 3,700 features across the U.S. this year.

The Chilean fillet market has been steadily firming over the past three weeks. Market participants report COVID-19 precautions in Chile, a focus on frozen production, and...

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ANALYSIS: Blue Swimming Crab Meat Market Remains Firm

The crab meat market continues to see firming prices on all grades, especially the larger ones. Upward pricing pressure remains due to ever increasing replacement costs.  

In Indonesia, the top supplier of blue swimming crab meat, holding over a 54 percent market share, market participants continue to report that competition for product remains high. Cost for raw material in this top producing country is reported to be rising. Inventories are thin as many importers let their supplies in the U.S. dwindle given the lack of demand at foodservice throughout the country...

ANALYSIS: Number of Salmon Promotions at Retail on Pace with 2019; Fresh Market Ends the Week Mixed 

As of this writing, the farmed salmon market out of Chile is seeing supplies adequate to even barely adequate. The market did see a $0.10 uptick on all sizes of fresh Atlantic Chilean salmon fillets at the back end of the week. Most market participants are reporting that current supplies were falling short of buyers’ needs.

Some reasoning behind the barely adequate supplies from some of the Chilean importers varies. A few market participants have mentioned that COVID cases are...

ANALYSIS: Russia Increases its Market Share for Snow Crab; YTD Imports Up 96.4 Percent 

The market share for Russian snow crab has increased from 18 percent in 2019 to a robust 28 percent in 2020. With the U.S.’s seemingly insatiable demand for snow crab even during a pandemic, increased imports of Russian snow crab have been well received.  

This additional product is combined with a crab season out of Canada in which the U.S market has seen the highest volume of imported snow crab year-to-date since 2017...

ANALYSIS: Lobster Imports Sharply Lower in Sept.; Dragged Down by Decline in Shipments from Canada

Imports of lobster products in the month of September totaled 7.56 million pounds compared to 9.25 in September 2019; this represents an 18.3 percent or 1.69 million-pound decline.

Product from Canada accounted for roughly 70 percent of all lobster entering the country in September. However, in the month, 28 percent less product entered the U.S. from Canada. Individually, shipments of all categories declined...

ANALYSIS: Farmed Salmon Retail Promotions Up; Average Price at Retail Down

The fresh farmed salmon market struggles have been well documented over the last several months. Volatility in the marketplace has been quite common during the past year, prior to the start of the pandemic. As we look back to around this time last year, social unrest in Chile lead to protesting and rioting, which greatly affected production and therefore supply in the U.S. marketplace. 

Prior to the protesting in Chile in October 2019, the 3-4 pounds Chilean fillet...

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 Imports Lead over LY during Pandemic

Year-to-date scallop imports for 2020 run through November, totaling 32.3 million pounds while the same 2019 timeframe reports 31.6 million pounds, a 2.3 percent or 714,359 pound difference. Despite showing a gain over 2019, the previous 5-year average for this eleven month timeframe far exceeds current year-to-date import volumes by 8 million pounds.

Scallop imports in 2019 were majorly affected by the tariffs on Chinese product. China is typically the leading supplier of scallops into the United States...

ANALYSIS: Haddock Market Strengthening amid Tariff Exemption Expiration

The haddock market has seen its fair share of tariff related events over the past two years. 

HTS code 0304.72.5000 refering to frozen haddock fillets, was originally listed on the $200 Billion Tariff Action (List 3) imposing a 10% tariff effective September 24, 2018. The increase to 25% was levied on May 10, 2019 after being postponed on January 1, 2019 and then again on March 2, 2019. The proposed increase to 30% originally planned for October 1, 2019 and delayed...

ANALYSIS: Mussel Prices Weaken, Imports Fall

Largely a foodservice item, the mussel market has seen its fair share of downwards pressure throughout 2020. Year-to-date January through October import volume shows a 14 percent decline from 2019 or trailing by 9 percent from the previous 5-year average of 63.9 million pounds for the January through October timeframe. The loss illustrated in 2018 is largely a result of an algal bloom affecting New Zealand mussel farm production that year...

UB Consulting: Multi-year Low Retail Ad Prices for Atlantic Salmon

Similar to most animal protein commodities, Atlantic salmon retail features have also recovered from the sudden drop from the initial stages of the pandemic. In addition, average retail feature ad price during the same period is at the lowest level since 2016. While this is no secret, it is always important to illustrate what has been collected anecdotally with hard data. Retail features for all Atlantic Salmon from week 19 to week 47, in addition to other insights are included in this report...

ANALYSIS: October Shrimp Imports Second Highest Ever (Again)

October shrimp imports were released today, and the trend of record and near-record imports remained. The reported figure of 173.204 million pounds surged past last month’s. This is the third consecutive month that either came in the top spot or the second spot with August records followed by September, now third, and this month now the second highest month on record. October 2020 was 5.6 percent above the same month last year.

Urner Barry Consulting Economist Angel Rubio expected this string of gains, forecasting...

ANALYSIS: Scallop Market Firms Amid Tightening Restrictions

The market for domestic caught Atlantic sea scallops is experiencing all-time record highs or 52-week highs depending on moisture content and size. During the week of Thanksgiving wholesale prices jumped as much as $1.00 on select size counts including all-natural, IQF, 10/20 count sized scallops currently averaging $15.00 per pound.

Factors contributing to the firming prices amid the current pandemic and newly emerging restrictions due to rising COVID-19 cases across the U.S. points to tighter supply...

ANALYSIS: Availability of Wild-Caught U.S. Shrimp Critically Low

Shrimp landings in the Gulf of Mexico have fallen to the lowest recorded level; at the current pace, the expectation is for only 69 million pounds landed. That is a 14 percent decline year-over-year and 33 percent fewer than the prior 10-year average. In addition, in September, the USDA initiated a purchase of frozen wild shrimp products for the Federal Food and Nutrition Assistance Program totaling 4.3 million pounds. So, in essence, only 65 million pounds will likely...

ANALYSIS: Opposing Pressure within the Tilapia Market

The market for tilapia frozen fillets from China has, for the most part, faired extremely well despite new obstacles to overcome in the uncharted territory of navigating through a pandemic this year. Largely due to its value and availability, retail sales skyrocketed as demand has remained moderate to active. As 2020 comes to a close however, there are a few factors putting opposing pressure on the market, creating some uncertainty looking ahead into 2021.

Upwards pressure on the market points to the swift rise of ocean freight...

ANALYSIS: September Pangasius and Catfish Imports Surge over 2019

Both Pangasius and Chinese catfish imports saw a surge in September imports when compared to the same month a year ago. September volume for pangasius frozen fillets totaled 9.8 million pounds, 3.1 million pounds, or 46 percent above the September 2019 total of 6.7 million pounds. The previous 10-year average for September imports is 17.5 million pounds, however. In looking at year-to-date totals thus far, January through September imports report 82.7 million pounds, retreating 6.5 percent from the...

ANALYSIS: Tilapia Imports Reign Over 2019 Across All Categories

While many species are seeing lower imports in 2020 due to implications stemming from the novel coronavirus, tilapia is not one of them. Fresh fillets and whole fish and frozen fillets and whole fish are all reporting January through September year-to-date volumes higher than the same 2019 time period.

Fresh fillets, running flat to the previous month has brought in 37.6 million pounds with a value of $10.6 million. Colombia and Honduras are the largest suppliers of fresh fillets...

ANALYSIS: September Shrimp Imports Second Highest on Record

September shrimp imports were released today, and following a record monthly figure in August, came in just short of that. At 165.189 million pounds, it is the second-highest monthly figure on record. This represented a 17.5 percent increase from the 140.572 million pounds last year.

Urner Barry Consulting Economist Angel Rubio expected the large gain, forecasting a total of 160.777 million pounds...

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: 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...