January 31, 2020 — Russia’s fisheries production continues to climb, reaching an all-time high of 5.03 million metric tons (MT) in 2018 and coming close to that mark again last year with a total catch of nearly five million MT.
But the Russian government thinks the country can do better.
January 30, 2020 — A panel of experts at the Global Seafood Market Conference (GSMC), held last week in Orlando, Florida, U.S.A.predicted the cod market will remain strong in 2020, thanks to relatively flat supplies and strong demand.
Global cod fisheries are expected to harvest just over 1.5 million metric tons (MT) in 2020, roughly the same amount harvested in 2019. As supplies remain strong but relatively stagnant, demand for the fish appears strong, with the price per MT in 2019 higher than at any other points in the past decade.
January 28, 2020 — Despite all of the concerns expressed about the 2019 Maine lobster harvest, landings improved at the end of the year and weren’t as bad as feared, Sheila Adams, vice president of sales and marketing and co-founder of processor Maine Coast, told attendees at the National Fisheries Institute’s Global Seafood Market Conference last week.
Though lobster can be harvested all year off the coast of Maine, the season typically picks up in earnest in July and August. So many in the industry were made nervous in November when Maine harvesters were widely reported as saying they believed their landings were going to finish 2019 between 30% and 50% lower than the 2018 season total (about 54,000t).
Based on Urner Barry estimates, shared at the event, the 2019 harvest in Maine was not quite as bad as that, garnering about 43,226t, down 21% from the year before. The state of Maine’s Department of Marine Resources never publishes its official tally for the previous year’s lobster harvest until March, so it will be a while before the final numbers are known.
January 23, 2020 — Haddock has been cut from the US list of products from China subject to 25% tariffs, but there is little fish available to capitalize on this opening.
Haddock and flatfish were removed in the ‘list three’ tariffs on Dec. 17 last year, around a month before the “phase one” agreement between the US and China that effectively paused the trade war at the current levels. The bulk of seafood from China still has 25% tariffs on it into the US. China has 35% tariffs on US seafood but has committed to buying $200 billion worth of additional US products, goods and services over the next two years, reducing the US’ bilateral trade deficit in goods, which hit $420bn in 2018.
There was a “concerted effort” from the National Fisheries Institute (NFI) and industry to get haddock excluded, Todd Clark, of importer Endeavor Seafood, told Undercurrent News at the NFI’s 2020 Global Seafood Market Conference (GSMC).
January 23, 2020 — Few low-price finfish species have the ubiquitous recognition of tilapia.
The species, primarily farmed in Asia, has long been associated with inexpensive entry-level seafood, based on the low cost of production and the low price-ceiling for both buyers and consumers. A perennial staple for the seafood industry, the species has seen relatively flat pricing coupled with a rising supply in recent years.
February 4, 2019 — Tilapia production globally has steadily increased over the past decade – with 2018 production estimated at nearly 6.3 million metric tons (MT) – yet U.S. imports were forecast to likely be at their lowest level in several years.
The data, shared at the Value Finfish panel during the 2019 Global Seafood Market Conference in Coronado, California earlier this month, estimates that the U.S. imported around 300,000 MT of tilapia in 2018. That’s significantly lower than the 500,000 MT high in 2012.
“Through October, through 2014, things have been on a pretty steady decline,” Todd Clark of Endeavor Seafood said.
The declines are clear in U.S. broadline sales, with virtually every commercial category having a steady three-year decline in sales. Commercial medium chains, representing chains with between 100 and 249 units, fell the most with a 46 percent drop in sales. Non-commercial restaurants, which make up the largest share of tilapia purchasing at over 14 million pounds, dropped six percent.
“Each one of those categories has been on a steady decline,” Clark said.
January 30, 2019 — At the beginning of the panel on premium finfish at the 2019 Global Seafood Market Conference in Coronado, California, on 15 January, moderator Derek Figueroa, the chief operating officer of Denver, Colorado, U.S.A.-based Seattle Fish Company, flashed a slide with the definition of both “premium” and “premium seafood.”
Figueroa clarified that the second definition had been created by the seven panelists themselves, and then, amidst updates on the status of species such as mahi, tilapia, sea bass, and barramundi, he curated a discussion on how the panelists arrived at their opinions on how they define “premium” seafood.
“What can we do to position seafood as a premium product?” Figueroa asked the panel. And, more provocatively, he added, “And do we want to?”
James Berger, the director of national sales for Jacksonville, Florida, U.S.A.-based Beaver Street Fisheries, seemed to struggle to answer Figueroa’s question.
“Is premium defined by price? Is it determined by the fact that you can’t find it – that it’s rare? Or is it defined by some stigma due to its cool Hawaiian name or that it comes from South America? I don’t know the answer,” he said.
Figueroa identified seven characteristics that can help define a species as premium: branding, price, sustainability, harvest method, country of origin, story/provenance, and whether it’s local or regional. He also pointed out the fact that harvesters, suppliers, retailers, and consumers each have their own distinct ideas of what defines a species of fish as premium. For harvesters, it could be demand, seasonality, and the labor involved. For suppliers, it could be harvest methods and availability. For restaurants or retailers, price, flavor, versatility, and sustainability play a role. For consumers, price and whether a fish is wild or farmed appear to be the main factors.
January 25, 2019 — Quotas of Russian-landed red king crab from the Far East and Barents Sea fisheries are growing even as Alaskan landings shrink due to concerns about the health of the stock.
However, members of the Global Seafood Market Conference’s Shellfish Panel said last week that US supplies of red king crab are dropping due to the lower Alaska quotas and reduced Russian imports as more crab is sent live to China and South Korea.
The US supply situation could get worse before it gets better, John Sackton of Seafood Datasearch told the audience.
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game set the Bristol Bay King Crab quota at 4.3 million pounds for the 2018/19 season, which compares to 6.6m lbs in 2017/18. This year’s effective spawning biomass was 33.3m lbs, greater than the 14.5m lbs needed to open the fishery. But there is concern that the biomass could shrink further in future years, Sackton said.
January 23, 2019 — The Maine Department of Marine Resources is still auditing its 2018 lobster catch and won’t issue a report until February, but department spokesperson Jeff Nichols has reportedly confirmed that the US state landed more than 100 million lbs for the eighth year in a row.
Speaking at the National Fisheries Institute’s Global Seafood Market Conference, in San Diego, California, last week, Keith Moores, president of Gloucester, Massachusetts-based frozen seafood supplier J.W. Bryce, estimated that Maine’s 4,500 harvesters landed about 119m lbs of lobster in 2018, an 8m lb increase over 2017, the Portland (Maine) Press Herald reported.
January 23, 2019 — While almost half of all Americans eat little to no seafood, many Americans love the stuff – and are willing to spend more time shopping for it and more money to buy it so they can eat it regularly.
The Food Marketing Institute’s first-ever Power of Seafood survey of more than 2,000 U.S. shoppers found numerous reasons as to why more Americans aren’t buying seafood, and discovered hurdles preventing even the most ardent fans of seafood from buying more.
FMI Vice President of Fresh Foods Rick Stein presented the initial results of the survey at the 2019 Global Seafood Market Conference in Coronado, California, U.S.A. on 17 January. FMI surveyed 2,096 grocery shoppers representative of the general U.S. population in regard to geography, age, and gender. FMI also incorporated data from sources including IRI, Nielson, Technomics, and Datassentials into its results. The full results of the survey will be released at the 2019 Seafood Expo North America in Boston, Massachusetts, in March.
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