While spending on groceries – including seafood – continues to soar in the U.S. forecasters arw awrning of impending challenges caused by COVID-19.
Grocery spending rose 55 percent to USD 253 (EUR 232) on average for the week of 18 to 23 March, according to a new survey from eMeals. Roughly 13 percent of consumers spent even more than that, totaling USD 400 (EUR 367) or more for the week.
While not as significant as gains made the week prior, frozen seafood sales in U.S. supermarkets hiked 41.9 percent to nearly USD 1.4 billion (EUR 1.3 billion) for the week ending 28 March, compared to the same week in 2019, according to Nielsen data supplied to SeafoodSource.
For the week ending on 14 March, frozen seafood sale surged 52.4 percent to nearly USD 1.6 billion (EUR 1.4 billion), according to Nielsen.
Shelf-stable seafood sales rose 30.2 percent to nearly USD 5.6 billion (EUR 5.1 billion) for the week ending 28 March, compared to a 53.4 percent jump to nearly USD 6.8 billion (EUR 6.2 billion) for the week ending 14 March.
Fresh seafood sales increased 8.2 percent to nearly USD 114 million (EUR 105 million) for the week ending 28 March, compared to an increase of 13.7 percent to nearly USD 128 million (EUR 116 million) for the week ending on 14 March.
However, high consumer demand, transportation issues, and food workers falling ill with COVID-19 could hamper overall and seafood supply in the near future.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the U.S. predicts “disruptions” in the food supply chains in April and May.
“We are already seeing … challenges in terms of the logistics involving the movement of food (not being able to move food from point A to point B), and the pandemic’s impact on livestock sector due to reduced access to animal feed and slaughterhouses’ diminished capacity (due to logistical constraints and labour shortages) similar to what happened in China,” the FAO said in a statement.
The seafood industry will be highly impacted by blockages to transport routes, FAO said.
“Fresh fish and aquatic products, which are highly perishable and therefore need to be sold, processed or stored in a relatively limited time are at particular risk," it said.
For wild-capture fisheries, the inability of fishing vessels to operate (due to either a limited or collapsed market, or to sanitary measures that are difficult to meet onboard a vessel) could generate a domino effect throughout the value chains, FAO said.
For both wild fisheries and aquaculture, logistics issues due to restrictions in transportation, border closures, and the reduced demand from restaurants and hotels can generate significant market changes which will impact prices, according to FAO.
Plus, dozens of grocery store workers have contracted coronavirus and at least four have died, according to The Washington Post.
“Thousands of grocery employees have continued to report to work as U.S. infections and death rates continue to climb, with many reporting long shifts and extra workloads to keep up with spiking demand,” the newspaper reported. “Many workers say they don’t have enough protective gear to deal with hundreds of customers a day.”
Photo courtesy of eldar nurkovic/Shutterstock
