The U.S. government has purchased around USD 5.7 million (EUR 5.2 million) worth of Alaska pollock, even as demand for the product has soared following U.S. sanctions on Russian seafood.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture awarded the contracts to supply pollock fillets, nuggets, and sticks to Seattle, Washington, U.S.A.-based Trident Seafoods for around USD 4.7 million (EUR 4.3 million) and Portsmouth, New Hampshire, U.S.A.-based High Liner Foods for around USD 1 million (EUR 909,000).
The agency bought nearly 1.56 million pounds of pollock at an average price of USD 4.54 (EUR 4.13) per pound, the highest price the USDA has ever paid for Alaska pollock products, Genuine Alaska Pollock Producers CEO Craig Morris told SeafoodSource.
“USDA was paying USD 2.44 [EUR 2.22] per pound as recently as 2020," Morris said. The previous USDA price record for Alaska pollock fillets was set earlier this year at USD 3.85 (EUR 3.50) per pound.
Even before the Russian pollock supply was cut off by U.S. seafood sanctions against Russia, experts were predicting higher prices for pollock in 2022. The global pollock supply is facing its first “meaningful” reduction in supply since around 2008, according to a panel at the National Fisheries Institute's 2022 Global Seafood Market Conference in January.
Globally, the pollock catch total will decline from 3.49 million metric tons (MT) to 3.22 million MT in 2022, according to the panel, while the total allowable catch for Alaska pollock has been set at 1.24 million MT, down 189,000 MT from 2021.
Even at current prices, wild Alaska pollock “provides an outstanding value to consumers given its great taste, versatility, sustainability, and health benefits,” Morris said.
Morris said GAPP is working on a study to better understand the various factors influencing the rising costs of pollock and other Alaska-sourced seafood products, and the impact of those increases.
“It is certainly fair to say that we are experiencing strong demand right now,” Morris said.
In addition to retail and foodservice buyers, the USDA continues to demand domestic pollock for federal food and nutrition assistance programs.
Between October 2021 and March 2022, the agency has already purchased nearly 6.8 million pounds of Alaska pollock products at a cost of nearly US 22 million (EUR 20 million).
“This most recent award makes this fiscal year USDA’s fifth-largest by volume and value in USDA’s history,” Morris said.
While there are several months left in the fiscal year, which runs through September, Morris said the USDA isn’t close to its record year of 2019, when it purchased nearly 33 million pounds of Alaska pollock products at a value of USD 76 million (EUR 69 million).
The USDA also asked for bids for 36,000 pounds of frozen walleye fillets, but it said it could not award contracts because it did not receive any offers.
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