Shellfish Updates

Crab

Imports take up slack for downturn in some domestic harvests

The chaotic conservation efforts to reduce Chesapeake Bay blue crab harvests by 15 percent are making crabbers more than a little crabby.

A slew of measures have been passed this year, including the creation of a large blue crab sanctuary in the middle of Chesapeake Bay, a daily limit of eight hours on the water for Virginia crabbers and a number of new minimum-size restrictions.

The most curious and controversial rule, though, was a decision by Maryland officials that banned Maryland crab houses from processing egg-bearing “sponge” crabs from Virginia, which is where most of the Maryland processors get their picking crabs in the spring (most male blue crabs are sold live for the bushel trade).

That decision idled Maryland processors and created a glut in Virginia, as crabs normally bound for Maryland plants had to be picked in Virginia.

“It was a huge windfall, huge,” says one Virginia processor.

Maryland’s processors were furious; the new rule had no conservation effect, because the female crabs were caught and pro-cessed anyway.

In spite of the new regulations, the Chesapeake season started off well. By midsummer, however, catches had slowed considerably, leading processors to project that catches this year would be a lot like last year’s disappointing harvest of about 22,000 metric tons, which is about 30 percent below the long-term average.

In spite of the poor domestic production (blue crab catches in Florida are also down sharply), there are plenty of imports to keep the pipeline filled.

Imports of swimming-crab meat from Indonesia were up another 23 percent through May, to 3,500 metric tons, and imports from Vietnam and China were up as well.

The restrictions in Chesapeake Bay have led at least one processor there to start importing frozen softshell swimming crabs from “the crystal clear waters of southern Asia.”

Although the season has been chaotic, prices for blue-crab meat have been relatively steady at $15 to $19 a pound for pasteurized jumbo lump, depending on quality.

The typical spring glut drove fresh jumbo softshells down to $16 a dozen in early June, but by late July they had doubled to $32 as production dropped off.

The price of a bushel of hard No. 1 “jimmies” was fluctuating this summer between $40 and $85, depending on landings.

Canadian crabbers were also crabby this summer when a big increase in the Gulf of St. Lawrence snow crab quota was handed over to permanent, instead of temporary, license holders.

Most of the increase, which should boost the Gulf catch from 14,000 metric tons last year to 22,000 metric tons this year, was supposed to be granted to fishermen with temporary licenses.

When Canada’s federal fisheries minister decided to give most of the Nova Scotia increase to permanent quota holders instead, temporary holders blockaded two Nova Scotia ports to prevent landings to plants in the Cape Breton region.

In late July, the blockade was lifted in one port as crabbers worked out a compromise.

Nova Scotia crab processors, meanwhile, were trying to organize their own blockade of a ferry terminal to protest the fact that almost half of the crab that was being landed was being trucked out of the province and processed in plants in New Brunswick and Newfoundland.

All was quiet in Newfoundland, on the other hand, as crabbers were expected to land their quota of almost 60,000 metric tons by early August.

Armed with a stronger yen, Japanese buyers were snapping up Canadian snow crab, driving the f.o.b. Boston price for  5- to 8-ounce sections up to $3.50 a pound by late July, about 30 cents a pound more than last year.

Alaska crabbers were hopeful that the results of the annual summer crab survey, which are announced in September, would lead to a healthy increase in the 2003 quota. Snow crab catches in Alaska the past two years have been the lowest in memory, at less than 15,000 metric tons.

Such landings are well below the 100,000-metric-ton snow crab hauls Alaska crabbers had been landing as recently as 1999.

The outlook for snow crab prices will depend on the Alaska quota. If it is raised substantially, look for prices to ease once Alaska production hits the market next February. If the quota is low, look for $3.50 a pound to stick through next year.

On the West Coast, Dungeness fishermen have had a good year, as landings were up about 20 percent from last year, and ex-vessel prices have remained well above $2 a pound most of this year.

The high prices have led to high inventories, but processors say they are not worried about moving product. Whole cooks were run-ning $4.25 to $4.50 a pound to distributors for 2- to  2 1/2- pound crabs, while meat prices were steady at $13 to $14 a pound and sections were running $5 a pound.

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Lobster

Look for lobster prices to be slightly lower than last year as there should be plenty of product available

In a normal year, prices for American lobster from New England and Canada peak in April, when there is very little product available. Then in May, when the weather improves and the Canadian fishery in the Gulf of St. Lawrence opens, prices quickly drop. Not this year.

A mild winter kept lobstermen on the water and there was plenty of product to meet the limited demand in April. In May, however, the weather went downhill at the same time demand picked up, which sent prices up instead of down. As a result, the average Boston price for 1-pound lobsters rose this year from an April low of about $4.75 a pound to  $5.25 in May. Last year, prices dropped from almost $7.90 in April to $5.50 in May.

However, by July, things were back to normal as Canadian fishermen were off the water and normal summer demand pushed prices up to levels that were similar to last year at about $5.80 a pound.

Look for lobster prices to be slightly lower than last year as there should be plenty of product available. Imports of live lobsters from Canada were up 18 percent through May to almost 12,000 metric tons. Early indications are also that Maine lobstermen, who typically land about 70 percent of the U.S. catch, will have another good year with catches of about 22,000 metric tons.

On the spiny side of lobster, fishermen from Western Australia saw their quota slashed more than 20 percent. As a result, production from this fishery, which runs November to May, should be less than 10,000 metric tons.

Not surprisingly, imports of coldwater tails from Australia are down 5 percent through May to 574 metric tons. An increase in exports from South Africa more than offset the shortfall from Australia. Nevertheless, the price of 5/6-ounce coldwater tails has bumped up to $24 this spring, an increase of about $2 a pound. Large coldwater tails were in shorter supply, which caused the price of 8/10-ounce tails to jump $8 a pound to a record $27.

Supplies of warmwater tails were relatively stable, as a decline in imports from the Bahamas and Nicaragua was offset by increases from Honduras and Brazil. The price to distributors for 5-ounce tails from Brazil and the Caribbean has been running $17.50 to $17.75 a pound, up $1.50 to $2 from last year. As long as supplies remain limited, look for these high price levels to stick.

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Mussels

With tight supplies of PEI product, U.S. producers report an increase in sales and production

After a rocky start, the mussel business had quieted down and returned to normal by mid-summer.

The year began with a Maine mussel company still trying to get a stiff dumping tariff slapped on mussel growers from Prince Edward Island. The Mainers were upset that a battle for market share in 2001 had driven the prices of rope-grown PEI mussels down to 70 cents a pound, which was almost the same price as bottom-cultured Maine mussels.

Things calmed down, however, when the Maine company withdrew its claim in February after prices rebounded somewhat in the winter. Less than two months later, though, the PEI mussel industry was rocked by an “unprecedented” spring outbreak of domoic acid, which forced the closure of many beds on the north shore of the island. For most of the spring, supplies of PEI mussels were very tight, as producers scrambled to find product to fill orders.

By late May, though, all the areas on PEI were reopened, and for the first time in more than a year, the mussel business returned to normal. With supplies again flowing, prices to distributors for PEI mussels settled into a range of 80 cents to $1 a pound.

The domoic dilemma was responsible for a 10-percent drop in U.S. imports of live Canadian mussels, which at the end of May totaled about 3,000 metric tons.

U.S. mussel producers said their sales and production were up, due in part to the shortfall of PEI product, and prices were steady. Wild and bottom-cultured New England mussels were averaging about 60 to 70 cents a pound this summer, depending on size.

On the West Coast, a large producer of Mediterranean mussels had doubled his annual production to 500 tons. Market prices for “Meds” have remained at $1.50 a pound.

Down under, New Zealand producers have rebounded from their production problems and have had a good year. Through May, U.S. imports of frozen greenshell mussels on the halfshell were up almost 50 percent, to 5,700 metric tons. The surge in supply has led to a slip in prices, as large greenshells that were selling for $2 a pound at the beginning of the year could be picked up from importers this summer for $1.65 a pound. 

Although the volume is still small, imports of whole, frozen, cooked mussels from Chile continue to find more market acceptance. Through May, imports were 440 metric tons, a big increase from the 135 metric tons shipped last year over the same period.

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Oysters

Production, price outlook good everywhere but Texas

The oyster industry in Louisiana, the leading oyster-producing state in the United States, has been enjoying a good year, and the outlook for 2003 is also good. Processors say production from public beds, which hits the market in September, will be down from last year, but there will be more than enough oysters from farmed beds to offset the decline.

That means the quality of Louisiana oysters will be generally better this fall, as the farmed oysters tend to have fatter meats because farmers move them around to find optimum feeding conditions.

Production is on the upswing in Mississippi, which continues to build reefs to increase oyster harvests.

The harvest outlook for the Texas season, which begins in November, is not as bright, however. Heavy summer rains this year have reduced salinities, and feeding conditions have been poor.  

Continued strong demand has led to a steady increase in prices for Gulf oysters again this year. Wholesale prices for live Gulf oysters have been fluctuating between $16.50 and $19.50 for 100-count boxes and $4.50 to $5.50 a pound for meats. The lower prices (and the better values) are in the winter, when oysters are fatter.

Gulf oyster producers are still enjoying success with value-added products. The market for IQF oysters on the halfshell has grown rapidly as increased numbers of casino operators use them for buffets.

This summer, IQF oysters were running anywhere from 25 cents to 30 cents apiece, depending on how they were packed. The production of oysters treated with pressure and pasteurization in the Gulf continues to increase. One Louisiana processor is undergoing a major expansion of his plant to produce pressure-treated oysters, which have been selling for about 35 cents each for banded product.

Out on the West Coast, the oyster business has a split personality. The market for live oysters has never been better, say producers. One of the largest suppliers in Washington state says his in-shell sales now outnumber his shucked-meat sales by a ratio of 3 to 1. Less than 10 years ago, he says, the ratio was reversed.

“There’s a lot more production out there,” says the operator of a large hatchery that supplies seed to farmers from California to British Columbia. “The growing demand for live oysters is driving the industry.”

In spite of the increase in supply, the price for live Pacific oysters has remained relatively stable for the past 10 years. This summer, prices to distributors for live oysters were running $2.75 to $4 a dozen, depending on size.

Farmers are harvesting a bumper crop from farms in Willapa Bay on the Washington coast, but the market for shucked Pacific oyster meats remains weak, say producers.

“As an industry, we’ve done nothing to promote the product for years,” says one Washington processor. “Fewer people like to cook oysters, and that’s killing meat sales.”

The price to distributors for shucked medium-sized Pacific meats has fallen another 20 percent this year, he says, to $21 to $22 a gallon for small and medium-sized meats and $24 for extra smalls.  

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Scallops

Conservation measures are keeping supplies high and prices low

We’re having to work too hard” is not a complaint you hear very often on the waterfront in New England, but that’s the lament of sea scallop fishermen these days.

The flip side of good conservation, fishermen have learned, is that you have to work harder to generate the same dollars.

Back in 1998, when scallop boats landed 5,900 metric tons of meats, the smallest catch since 1975, fishermen got an average price of $6.10 a pound for their scallops.

Last year, however, when they landed a record 21,000 metric tons of meats, the average ex-vessel price was $3.72 a pound. And this year it could go even lower.

Score one for the fisheries managers at the National Marine Fisheries Service. By rotating where and when scallop fishermen can fish, they’ve restored the scallop resource to unprecedented levels of abundance.

And by restricting the number of days fishermen can fish during the year, they should be able to keep landings at very high levels for some time to come.

And that’s good news for buyers, who saw low prices for sea scallops head even lower this summer.

“We’re beating the heck out of each other to move product,” says one Massachusetts processor, “and that keeps pushing prices down.”

At one point this summer, processed 20/30 scallops could be picked up for less than $3 a pound.

“A lot of people are chasing the low end of the market and it’s really depressed,” says the processor.

The low prices are fueling demand for dry product.

“It’s not that buyers necessarily want a higher-quality scallop,” says one processor.

“It’s just that the low prices have reduced the economic value of soaking.”

When scallops were $6 to the boat, he says, the difference between soaked and dry product was $2 a pound or more. Now that it’s about a dollar, it’s not that big a deal to buyers, because scallops are so cheap anyway.

He estimates that about a third of all the scallops he sells now are dry scallops. Of course, in the scallop business, dry doesn’t necessarily mean dry. Since the Food and Drug Administration now allows any scallop with a moisture content below 82 percent to be called dry, processors will give scallops that have 77 or 78 percent moisture a short soak to get their moisture content as close to 82 percent as possible. 

As a result, there are dry scallops, wet dry scallops and wet scallops.

Unlike two years ago, when closed areas of Georges Bank yielded large catches of big U-10 meats, most of the scallops being landed lately have been in the 20/30 range. As a result, prices to distributors this summer for the biggest dry sea scallops have remained in the range of $6 to $7.50 a pound.

Prices for dry 10/20s have been running $4.50 to $5, while dry 20/30s were selling for $4 to $4.50, almost $1 a pound lower than last summer. Processed 20/30s have been between $3 and $3.20 a pound.

Given that stocks have rebounded, it would seem logical that the outlook for scallops would be simply more of the same: heavy landings and attractive prices.

Unfortunately, though, that may not be the case in the contentious, Byzantine world of New England fisheries management.

Under the current plan, which was enacted in 1998, scallop managers didn’t expect the stocks to be fully recovered until 2008.

As a result, despite the premature scallop boom, the number of days scallop boats can fish is scheduled to be reduced in 2003 from 120 to 45.

Fisheries managers are scrambling to come up with the required changes, but they doubt they can have a new plan in place that will please both industry and litigious environmental groups before March 1, the start of the new fishing year. If they don’t resolve the issue, look for prices next summer to be a lot higher than they were this year.

Sea scallop prices will probably start to increase late this fall anyway, as boats start to run out of days at sea and some pressure is taken off the fresh market.

Prices for China bays have increased from the incredibly low levels of last fall, which saw some containers of 120/150s changing hands for as little as $1.25 a pound, to a more realistic price range of $1.75 to $1.85 a pound.

Larger sizes have also rebounded to $2.10 a pound for 100/120s and $2.45 for 80/100s. Look for these prices to hold through next spring if the Chinese have a reasonable harvest this fall.

In spite of the low prices, scallop imports increased slightly through May of this year, to 9,300 metric tons of meats.

Imports of Canadian seas were up about 50 percent, to 1,500 metric tons, in spite of a 15-percent reduction in the Canadian 2002 quota to 8,500 metric tons of meats.

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Shrimp

Shrimp, shrimp everywhere, and prices are going nowhere but down

After taking a shellacking last year, as prices for most sizes fell all year long, shrimp peddlers were cautiously optimistic at the start of 2002. After all, prices couldn’t keep going down forever — could they?

January started out well, and for the first time in more than a year, importers made money as the value of their shrimp on the water headed up.

But it was too early to break out the champagne. By March, the price for most shrimp sizes once again started to head down.

It was the same old story. Shrimp was coming in from everywhere, and the flood showed no sign of abating. 

After rising 16 percent last year, to a record 400,000 metric tons, shrimp imports through May of this year were up another 16 percent, to 134,000 metric tons.

At the same time, early indications were that domestic Gulf shrimpers were going to have a very good season this summer.

Now an additional 80,000 metric tons of shrimp would be hard for any market to stomach, but the fact that shrimp is pouring into the U.S. market during the worst economic downturn in more than a decade makes a bad situation worse.

At least that’s the case if you’re a supplier. If you’re a buyer, the good buys just keep getting better, especially for raw shrimp.

Take big black tigers. A surge of imports from India (up more than 250 percent, to 2,800 metric tons) and Vietnam (up 100 percent, to 1,800 metric tons) is responsible for a 55 percent increase in the supply of shell-on U-15s. 

A size that normally sells for $10 or $11 a pound was selling to distributors for about $7 this July. The price for 16/20s tigers also slipped,  falling from $5.75 a pound to $5.40. 

It’s a similar story for smaller sizes of shell-on shrimp. Imports of 61/70s were up almost 50 percent through May, while imports of 51/60s were up 37 percent.

 Large increases in imports from Brazil and China have accounted for the bulk of the supply increase.

The price to distributors for both sizes has plunged almost 30 percent this year, to about $2.50 a pound, a level not seen for almost 10 years, when China whites flooded the U.S. market.

After a big increase last year, supplies of cooked tigers were relatively flat through May, as imports came in at about 40,000 metric tons.

Another surge in cooked imports from Vietnam, which almost doubled to 6,000 metric tons, was offset by a decline in exports from Thailand.

After falling to $5.50 a pound at the end of last year, the price to distributors for 26/30 cooked tigers increased to about $6.40 to $6.50 a pound this January, where it remained through July.

Look for Thai producers to try to hold the line on their cooked tigers. 

Unlike the Chinese and the Vietnamese, the Thais have come out relatively unscathed from the chloramphenicol crisis.

Their highly organized farmed-shrimp industry has clamped down faster on the use of antibiotics than have those in other Asian countries.

Concerns about chloramphenicol should lead the Thais to cut back on the volume of raw farmed tigers they cook from other Asian countries, where farmed-shrimp industries lack the Thais’ controls over antibiotic usage.

The Thai government has signaled that it doesn’t want to risk damaging the reputation of its own shrimp by having Thai suppliers process imported raw material from other countries, which may contain residues of banned antibiotics.

As a result, look for imports of shrimp from Thailand to remain flat or possibly decline in the near future.             

Although many shrimp prices were still dropping in July, don’t expect them to go much lower.  Most farmers have been getting prices below production costs for some time, and they’ll eventually cut back on their harvests.

The wild card, at least on the small-shrimp side of the equation, is China. So far, although imports are up dramatically on a percentage basis, the volume from China is still relatively low, due in part to the chloramphenicol cloud hanging over the Chinese industry.

If Food and Drug Administration tests being run on Chinese shrimp this summer lead to a clean bill of health, Chinese imports could increase substantially, which should keep prices of small shell-on shrimp very low for some time.

It looks like there will be plenty of coldwater shrimp around for quite a while, too. There’s already too much cooked and peeled coldwater shrimp for the U.S. market to digest, argued fisheries managers in Newfoundland this July.

Although biologists told them they could have bumped their 2002 quota by 20,000 metric tons, the Newfies decided to leave it at 110,000 metric tons, the same as last year. 

Through May, imports of Canadian shrimp were up 70 percent, to 1,700 metric tons. That kept the pressure on cooked and peeled coldwater prices, which were running  $2.80 a pound for 175/250s and $2.40 for 250/350s.

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