Japanese finally all in on $4.95 Newfoundland crab price
At the end of last week the last hold-out Japanese packers signed contracts at $4.95 (FOB) for Newfoundland Snow crab. The result was $.15 to $.20 cents higher than the Japanese had hoped, and was the result of Newfoundland packers showing real negotiating strength partly due to the fact they had bid up harvester prices well above the minimum amounts. Its a picture of fighting each other on the rock, but then turning around and sticking together to face everyone else so they can keep fighting.
Despite the slowdown in landings due to cold weather in some parts of PEI, lobster prices remain very stable. Live demand in Boston has been light to moderate, and current price levels seem reasonable to stimulate activity on tails. Could a year of no surprises be unfolding?
Preferred Freezers sponsored a car in the Indy 500 this past weekend, and came up with a top ten finish by driver JR Hildebrand, using a Chevrolet. The car is part of the Ed Carpenter racing team.
Bob Jones, the outspoken and well known advocate for commercial seafood in Florida and the Southeast, will be honored for 50 years of service at the upcoming Southeastern Fisheries Association banquet next month. Jones was one of the leaders to push Florida to get aggressive about seafood fraud, with the result that your are now more likely to actually get grouper when you order in a Florida restaurant.
Herring negotiations are fairly tense right now, as BC packers prepare to ship some green roe, and contracts have not been established for either Sitka or BC herring. There are some reports of a $500 / short ton sale from Togiak, and scattered reports of shipping prices from BC.
Finally, the Senate Appropriations committee has okayed a requirement to label any genetically modified salmon if it is approved for sale by the USDA. Unlike the agriculture lobby which is fiercely opposed to GMO labeling as they heavily use GMO products, the wild salmon industry is determined not to have consumer fears of genetically modified animals drive people away from salmon. Such an outcome is highly possible if no labeling is required, despite the requirement to differentiate between wild and farmed product. So this regulation has more of a chance to become law than many other GMO labeling initiatives.