U.S. demand for scallops has slowed, but excess Japanese supply being rejected from China has still managed to find a new home filling in the gap of lower U.S. catch rates.
There have been three consecutive years of reductions in U.S. North Atlantic sea scallop landings, and although the quota is expected to rise by 1 million pounds to 26 million pounds in 2024, reduced supply has opened up a window for Japanese scallops to take over market share, according to Northern Wind Chief Commercial Officer Jamie Dwyer.
Speaking at the 2024 Global Seafood Market Conference in Orlando, Florida, U.S.A., Dwyer said from 2020 to 2023, Japan increased its U.S. scallop exports from 4.9 million pounds to 14.7 million pounds.
“We've got a huge opportunity in 2024 with the influx of Japanese scallops coming into the U.S.,” Dwyer said.
In August 2023, China instituted a ban on Japanese imports following the release of wastewater from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
U.S. government officials, including the U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emmanuel, have pledged to ramp up U.S. purchasing to mitigate the economic impact on American importers and consumers, expressing concern about a potential shortage and subsequent rise in seafood prices as a result of China’s ban.
A few months later, U.S. customs reported a surge in Japanese scallop imports, with more than 6 million pounds entering the U.S. in October 2023, according to Dwyer. Meanwhile, China’s scallop exports, which reached 12 million pounds in 2022 and were sitting at 10.5 million pounds for the year through November 2023, are expected to decline as supply chains change.
“The arrivals into the [United] States in September, October, and November [after the U.S. fishing season] are stabilizing prices,” Dwyer said. “Japanese prices have continued to increase largely due to the exchange rate against the dollar and high interest rates. So, again, closing that gap is good, but there's still a very good perceived value with Japanese scallops in the United States.”
Domestic dry scallop prices in the U.S. are down 14 percent this month from January 2023, converging on the lower-priced Japanese scallops, which originally were being offered for around USD 4 (EUR 3.70) less in the fall. The ex-vessel price for U.S. scallops was around USD 14 (EUR 12.91) in 2023, according to Dwyer.
Prices have also been helped by steady imports from Canada, which have ranged between 7.7 million pounds and 9.6 million pounds over each of the last five years, reaching a five-year high in 2023, with December’s total not yet confirmed. Argentina has also upped its scallop exports to the U.S. in recent years, hitting 8.5 million pounds in 2022 and 8.3 million pounds through November 2023. All told, the U.S. will import around 50 million pounds of scallops in 2023, aligning with 2021 and 2022 import totals and up from the 31 million pounds imported in 2019 and 2020.
The U.S. fishery caught more U10- and U12-sized scallops than expected in 2023, with catches of both increasing year over year, while 10/20s, which represent the majority of the catch, declined 13 percent.
Photo by Cliff White/SeafoodSource
