Shrimp prices have come up since 2018, when oversupply caused a crash in the global market, but they are still comparatively low, an executive at a leading U.S. shrimp importer told SeafoodSource on Tuesday, 21 January at the National Fisheries Institute’s Global Seafood Market Conference in Orlando, Florida.
Teaneck, New Jersey, U.S.A.-based Eastern Fish President and Chief Operating Officer Eric Bloom added that lower prices could be a good outcome for the seafood industry, allowing it to offer a mainstream, center-of-the-plate protein at price levels comparative to chicken and beef.
“The market has recovered. Movement is relatively healthy, and I will say Eastern Fish had an excellent, excellent year” in 2019, he said. “I think we’ve arrived at fair price levels. They’ve come up a bit this year but not to where it’s precluding people from buying. It’s affordable and people are starting to really feel strongly there’s a good value for shrimp.”
Shrimp’s low prices have enabled retailers and foodservice providers to increase their promotional activity, Bloom said.
“You’re seeing shrimp on more menus. There are more offerings for it, and it’s appearing more consistently at prices that are attractive to customers,” he said.
Eastern Fish is one of the leading importers of shrimp into the United States, bringing in more than 72 million pounds of shrimp annually, both wild-caught and farm-raised. Bloom said it’s noteworthy that shrimp prices have remained low despite the tariffs in place as a result of the ongoing trade war between the United States and China, which is consistently one of the world’s top exporters. That shows that shrimp supply is both ample and diversified, and capable of withstanding even major market headwinds, he said.
“Most commodity shrimp is not coming from China, which has resulted in a lot of value-added shrimp products now being redirected to production in Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam,” he said. “It’s a shame because China was always a piece of our mix – they’ve done a good job for many years. But we were fortunate to be a diversified business, and we’ve had a seamless transition in our value-added business, mostly allowing us to consider doing new items with existing suppliers.”
For the 12 months ending in September 2019, Eastern Fish’s sales once again landed in the area of USD 440 million (EUR 397 million) by value, including sales of scallops, king and snow crab, lobster, squid, and finfish. And even with the logistical difficulty presented by the tariffs, Bloom said Eastern Fish’s sales were up 10 percent by volume, aided by an “excellent” December.
“The whole holiday season was strong for sales,” he said.
Bloom said while the company’s approach is that “there’s always going to be room for breaded products in the market,” such as those sold under its Golden Harvest brand, he sees the best opportunity for growth in “cleaner choices.”
“There’s a lot of demand for less-fried, less-heavy dishes and more lighter-tasting ingredients,” he said.
The company has found success with its JustFish brand, a product line that contains no additives or artificial ingredients, Bloom said.
