ANALYSIS: Chinese Tariff's Impact on Red Swimming Crab Meat Market

The Chinese tariff increase of 10 - 25% is an issue at the forefront for the red swimming crab meat market. China, the largest supplier of red swimming crab meat, saw record breaking imports at the end of 2018, just as the 10% tariff was being implemented and the threat for the January 1, 2019 tariff increase of 25% was baited. With much of the production front-loaded in the beginning of the 2018-2019 season, imports in 2019 have fallen off dramatically. Now, with the administration’s sudden implementation of...

ANALYSIS: Weakness Continues in the Blue Swimming Crab Meat Market

The blue swimming crab meat market continues to look barely steady to weak.

The market looks to continue to weaken, as it has since the middle of last July. Since the summer, the blue swimming crab meat market steadily declined throughout the back half of 2018 and it continues to adjust lower for these first two months in 2019. On jumbo lump blue swimming crab meat, for example, there has been a 5.2 percent drop since the beginning of the...

ANALYSIS: Japanese Exports Affecting Canadian Scallops; U.S. Market Unsettled

Premiums are developing in the Canadian sea scallop market as approximately 95% of the offshore quota has been caught. Frozen inventory levels are not as abundant compared to previous years and one factor contributing to this are fewer exports from Japan into Canada.

This past year, while Japan harvested the same number of scallops as expected, the harvest was of a smaller size, attributing to about 25% less product available for export. Less exports, paired with strong domestic demand in Japan ...

Pangasius Import Volumes Recover Somewhat After USDA Equivalence Ruling for Vietnam

SEAFOODNEWS.COM [Analysis] by Lorin Castiglione - October 9, 2018

For the first time all year and since government regulation has switched from the FDA to the USDA, pangasius imports are within range of the previous three-year average.

August imports of frozen pangasius fillets registered 22.2 million pounds from Vietnam, the largest monthly import volume for 2018. Volumes have increased again, after a significant 62.3 percent increase for the month of July, gaining another 11.6 percent into the month of August.

August 2018 falls only 3.3 percent short of ...

ANALYSIS: Imported Volume of Farmed Salmon Fillets at all Time Highs Amid 6 Weeks of Steady Pricing

SEAFOODNEWS.COM [SeafoodNews] by Janice Schreiber - September 19, 2018

Consistency and growth in the farmed salmon market out of Chile have been the theme as of late. This is a bit of an anomaly in comparison to previous years. The farmed fillet market would typically see unsold product hitting the spot market in fairly regular spats or, on the other hand, product in the spot drying up due to disease issues, labor strikes, or natural disasters ...

ANALYSIS: Uncertainty Exists Around Lobster Exports to China

SEAFOODNEWS.COM [SeafoodNews] by Liz Cuozzo - August 6, 2018

The recent announcement of the retaliatory tariffs by China has caused much speculation in New England as to how it will affect the lobster industry.  The bottom line is that it is still too early to predict what the fallout will be.  However, the consensus is that it does not bode well for the US market.

The US exported $128 million worth of lobster to China in 2017, which was up 56% from 2016 ...

ANALYSIS: Farmed Salmon Going Through Dramatic Market Correction After Mother's Day

SEAFOODNEWS.COM [SeafoodNews] by Janice Schreiber - June 8, 2018

After a 9-week rally through Mother’s Day, the farmed salmon complex is going through a somewhat dramatic market correction.

Over the past 3-4 weeks, the market has been weakening across the farmed salmon complex; all origins – Canada, Chile, and Europe – have been adjusting lower, some rather significantly.

The fresh Canadian West Coast 10-12 whole fish market has seen a $0.80 drop in price, which is a 18.6 percent change in the last four weeks ...

ANALYSIS: Will Retail Features Keep Increasing Heading into the Holiday Season?

After the traditionally slow pre-Thanksgiving period for seafood promotions, things look to come back with a roar for the holidays. Most of the major seafood retail items, except for salmon and tilapia, are trading at lower prices than last year in December. And both salmon and tilapia have positives that may support more retail promotions over the holidays. For salmon, it is the higher prices of whitefish, that make it a more attractive staple. For tilapia, it is the heavy buying ahead of Chinese tariffs that...

ANALYSIS: NZ Mussels - September Imports Fall 75%; Lowest Ever Recorded

SEAFOODNEWS.COM [SeafoodNews] by Lorin Castiglione - November 8, 2018

Urner Barry quotations for Green Shell Mussels imported from New Zealand were recently pulled due to there not being sufficient inventory within the market to quote an accurate price for the commodity. Toxic algal blooms in New Zealand earlier this year caused the closure of most mussel farms and with the latest September import numbers recently published, we are seeing just how much of the production was affected.

Import volume for September recorded the lowest numbers ...

Recap: August Shrimp Imports Higher; First Monthly Increase Since April

SEAFOODNEWS.COM [SeafoodNews] - October 5, 2018

Imports of warmwater shrimp products increased for the first time since April, up 8 percent in the month of August. The eight-month total now stands 4 percent higher.

India (+13.4%), Indonesia (+34.5%), Ecuador (+43.6%), Vietnam (+1.8%) and China (+8.0%) all shipped more shrimp to the U.S. in the month of August. Thailand (-55.2%) was the only major supplying country to ship less shrimp.

Increases were seen ...

Lobster Import Volume Higher While Shrimp Imports Lower in July

SEAFOODNEWS.COM [SeafoodNews] Analysis by Jim Kenny - September 5, 2018

July import numbers were released on Wednesday, and according to the data, the month saw the volume of lobster products imported into the U.S. increase 3.5 percent compared to July 2017. However, the same can’t be said for shrimp.  

Imports of all lobster products in July totaled 10.38 million pounds, a 3.6 percent increase year-to-date. Market Reporter Jim Kenny reports that imports of lobster products from Canada increased 4.5 percent in July; and that imports of cold-water lobster tails are ...

ANALYSIS: May Gulf of Mexico Shrimp Landings Largest Since May 2009

SEAFOODNEWS.COM [SeafoodNews] by Jim Kenny - June 25, 2018

The National Marine Fisheries Service is reporting May 2018 Gulf of Mexico shrimp landings (all species, headless) of 16.281 million pounds compared to 14.585 million pounds in May 2017. This is the largest May total since 16.288 million pounds were landed in May 2009.

The Louisiana fishery led all Gulf states in May with landings totaling 10.369 million pounds. This is considerable since there hasn’t been a single production month in excess of ...