Gulf Shrimp Prices Spike in August on Low Volumes; Spread Widens Over Farmed Market
Gulf shrimp prices are up significantly in August because of supply concerns since landings in July fell to their lowest level since 2010. The summer spike has quickly widened the spread between Gulf shrimp prices and the imported farmed market. Monthly shrimp landings in July were down 36 percent compared to the same time last month. Lack of landings this summer has fueled supply concerns and raised boat prices for local processors. Notably, the increase in Gulf shrimp prices in August has more than doubled the price spread between the domestic and farmed shrimp markets.
Greenpeace released its first report on Foodservice companies use of seafood, saying "Ocean Destruction Comes from Foodservice." John Sackton writes about the hollowness of the campaign, illustrated by the fact that only 3 out of 14 companies agreed to speak to Greenpeace, and those were the only companies given a "passing" grade. Sackton says Greenpeace is unlikely to repeat the success its had in the retail sector with a similar campaign since few of the broadliners sell directly to consumers. "Greenpeace has an uphill battle to explain to its members just who the broadliners are, since they don't interact with them in the same way they interact directly with retailers," says Sackton.
In other news, the NYPD’s Criminal Enterprise Investigations unit arrested three men and charged them with felony criminal possession for stealing $1 million worth of high-end, imported barbecue-style eels. The eels belonged to Mars Global Trading. They were shipped from China to the Maher Terminal in Elizabeth, N.J. this past June before they went missing. The company's owners notified authorities of the theft since the eels started appearing in local restaurants and after their own labeled boxes were spotted being sold on the street.
Meanwhile, the 3-sector Pacific whiting fishery so far this year seems to be a mixed bag of slow production, concerns about rockfish bycatch and a little bit of worry about small fish reports Susan Chambers. So far, the catcher-processor sector is the only one of the three that has exceeded its 2015 whiting catch. The mothership co-operatives and the shoreside sector are still behind, both relative to last year's landings and their percentage of annual allocation. "The only constant about any given whiting season is that we know it will be different than the last one and there will be some new challenge to face and this year is no exception," said United Catcher Boats Executive Director Brent Paine.
Finally, Japan's salmon run in Hokkaido this fall is expected to stay stagnant and fall below 40 million fish. Japanese researchers say warmer water temperatures this past spring may be behind the decline.
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