Record prices can’t stop global scallop demand

News 13:46 13/09/2014

(IntraFish) A tight supply picture and strong demand in Asia, North America and also Europe means record prices for scallops are unlikely to come down, say execs in the US and Canada. An increase in the US scallop quota is not enough to meet the booming demand around the world, sources told IntraFish.

“Everything points to scallops remaining at or near record high levels,” said Chuck Anderson, fresh sales director with Boston, Massachusetts-based Sousa Seafood.

“China keeps buying at these levels. The demand from Asia does not appear to be easing, but still increasing,” Anderson told IntraFish. “We are starting to see some supermarkets and restaurants take scallops off the menu and out of the seafood cases.

The prices are just too high for regular weekly sales in most areas.” Prices for 10/20 count per pound – a benchmark size -- are $10.80 (€8) to $11.25 (€8.4) depending on quality, he said. At the same time last year, 10/20 count were at $9.50 (€6.7) per pound and $7.50 (€5.6) per pound two years ago.

Scallops will continue to be offered in high-end food service, and high-end retail, he said. “The mid-end retail stores will likely carry only frozen scallops, with fresh scallops only for special events such as Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day.”

The club stores are still carrying scallops because it was such a strong driver for several years, but even those sales are starting to slow, due to fewer promotions and higher prices, he said.

“Until demand weakens, tied with strong production, we will not see a drop in prices. We could potentially see some easing in prices in late spring."

By then production should be good, and US consumers may continue to see fewer scallop available due to the high price points, said Anderson.

“My gut feel is that the market has to come down some at that point, but it will not fall very far, due to Asian demand.”

The market for scallops is strong in North America, Europe and Asia, with buyers in these regions “competing for supply,” said Bernard Leger, vice president of sales and marketing for Europe and Asia with Canada’s Ocean Choice International. Prices are similar across markets but all markets are paying the level of prices, he told IntraFish.

There is little supply coming out of the US and Canada at the moment and low inventory is contributing to increasing prices, said Leger. “We will not see much until March and really April. Prices are the highest level ever seen in all markets.”

Some ‘erosion’

Demand continues to outstrip supply, said Leger. “At this price level we are seeing some erosion in the market, but demand continues to exceed supply across all markets.

"Emerging markets like Asia are contributing and where provenance has become an ongoing concern, we have definitely seen increase demand and traffic," he said.

“Following the tsunami in Japan and the subsequent to the nuclear fall-out last year, we saw prices increase steadily as buyers in Europe and Asia turned away from the Japanese scallops."

Impact of Peru

The Peruvian scallop industry has seen increases over the past couple of years and may have an impact on the market this year, said Leger. “They may have an impact on the queen scallop that supplies volume to French processors, along with US-based Wanchese Fish Company and Clearwater Seafoods, with its Argentine operation," he said.

“Spring season will see production coming out of the US and Canada, where prices might soften slightly, but the feeling among people in the industry is that it will stabilize and firm up in the fall."

Canada down

“Canadian supply will be down as the quota is down and will not likely be fished until March at the earliest...this should have an upward pressure on prices with demand for quality dry product, growing -- certainly in Canada and the US,” said Colin MacDonald, chairman of Clearwater Seafoods.

US quota up

The new US scallop season and new days opened March 1 in the US. The 2012 catch level is up 6 percent from 2011 to 54 million pounds, said Anderson.

“The added scallop catch may or may not be caught depending on how big the scallops are, and if they go over the yellowtail flounder bycatch level," he told IntraFish.

The Delmarva Peninsula catch area may be closed in 2012, said Anderson. The days at sea allocated for Delmarva area may be switched to Hudson Canyon access area or open days at sea, he said.

“Even if all of the Delmarva trips are allowed elsewhere and the yellowtail flounder bycatch does not slow down production, the feeling is that these prices are here to stay for a while.”

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