September 12, 2014 — As the US scallop size of choice – less than 10 to a pound, or U10s – become rare, buyers are likely to move to 10/20s and embrace the savings as prices remain high across the board, sources told Undercurrent News.
Restaurants and foodservice in the US have long preferred to buy the U10s, but with prices rising all year – and looking set to stay there as most of the New Bedford scallop vessels have finished their fishing – a shift to smaller sizes looks likely.
“Landings have fallen, as many boats are done fishing,” Terry Molloy, general manager of Chesapeake Bay Packing, told Undercurrent.
“Around 80% of the landings have been completed, or more. Many of the boats have tied up; those boats with two captains maybe have some days left under the second guy. Chesapeake has probably purchased 90% of what it’s going to,” he said.
Once the boats wrap up fishing for 2014, suppliers will have to last through to March 2015 on the inventories they have, and there are concerns on the part of customers as to whether U10s will be available for all this period.
“Suppliers will fall back to using previously frozen from their inventories, so those who insist on fresh will see high prices,” said David Cournoyer, general manager of Marder Trading in New Bedford.
Read the full story at Undercurrent News