The global pollock market is in a good position to grow as supplies remain high and with prices steadily increasing, according to experts on a recent value finfish panel at the 2020 Global Seafood Market Conference in Orlando, Florida, U.S.A.
Supplies of Alaska pollock are expected to be at a high point in 2020, with an estimated catch of 3.59 million metric tons (MT) coming in 2020. That amount is predominately made up of catch coming from the United States and Russia, which represent the lion’s share of the global supply.
Ample supply is not correlating to a drop in prices, however, with pricing for headed and gutted and fillets both steadily increasing. Prices for H&G pollock in China was sitting at its highest point in the last several years in December. Perhaps most remarkably, prices of both once and twice-frozen fillet blocks of pollock are within just a few cents of one another.
“Very often that’s a reaction to a general shortage to the market,” Rasmus Sorensen of American Seafoods Company LLC said.
Despite more supply of the fish coming from sustainable sources, the overall market penetration of pollock is, according to Datassential surveys, still low. Menu penetration sits at low levels – just under 1 percent of menus specifically mention pollock on them. Predictions show that that menu penetration is unlikely to improve.
The issue, panelists said, is similar to that faced by pangasius: It gets placed into a generic “whitefish bucket” that doesn’t specifically call out the fish.
“That’s been one of the challenges for pollock for a number of years,” Sorensen said. “I think that’s a reason why the industry has really rallied [behind] GAPP.”
GAPP, the acryonym for the Genuine Alaska Pollock Producers trade organization, has been organizing a number of campaigns and funding that promote pollock, giving millions of dollars to companies for marketing the species. Part of the industry’s efforts has been getting pollock into the U.S. school lunch program, introducing the species to the younger generation and calling it out specifically.
“The industry has worked very hard to get Alaska pollock to kids, we worked very closely with the school system in North America,” Sorensen said. “We’re trying to capture the audience at a young age and help them appreciate seafood.”
The goal is that the younger generations will increase seafood consumption, especially given the low numbers exhibited by Generation Z consumers.
“I look at that chart and see an opportunity,” Sorensen said of the low menu penetration.
Sorensen added that the global surimi market also has a lot of opportunity, particularly in Asia. However, it may not be marketed there as surimi.
“They’re shying away from calling it surimi, and focusing on the protein side of it,” he said. “Instead of being an artificial seafood product, it’s going to be a high-quality protein product.”
Photo courtesy of Diana Taliun/Shutterstock
