A dispute between the Mauritanian state-controlled company that markets the country’s seafood products and its foreign trading partners has flared over sharply rising prices for octopus.
The Société Mauritanienne de Commercialisation de Poissons (SMCP) has hiked prices for octopus over the last decade, reaching nearly USD 18,000 (EUR 15,319) per metric ton for the first-choice grade.
SMCP’s biggest traditional customers, composed primarily of Japanese trading companies, have balked at the price demand and have refrained from taking the product, resulting in much of the recent harvest remaining in frozen storage, a Mauritanian French language news website, Crossroads of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, reported. As the Japanese can also turn to Mauritania’s neighbor Morocco for product, they usually have the upper hand in negotiations.
The timing was inauspicious for Mauritania, which had national elections approaching (the ruling party won), and which had full freezers since the season just finished. The article speculates that the SMCP may set up a line of credit to support producers struggling from a lack of sales.
“The SMCP is responsible only for the regulation of the market prices. It sells nothing and these prices are not respected in general, not by the exporters, nor by the purchasers,” a Mauritanian fish exporter, Freshfish, informed Seafoodsource. The exporter is frustrated that the market is now following “supply and demand, as in all the markets of the world.”
Prices for octopus from West Africa have risen as octopus, which used to be an inexpensive seafood, is becoming a delicacy worldwide. Its popularity has surged recently in Europe and the U.S.A., and as a result, Japanese companies are having a harder time securing supplies.
Japanese import volumes follow a seasonal pattern, with increasing volumes from January to April, then a sudden drop in May, with further declines through August before rising again in the fall or early winter.
About half of the octopus sold in Japan is imported. In 2010, export volume from Mauritania and Morocco was about 27,000 metric tons (MT) to Japan and about 35,000 MT to Europe. In 2016, this it was approximately 32,000 MT to Japan and 50,000 MT to Europe. Thus Europe’s share is increasing.
Prices per metric ton published by the SMCP for September are as follows. (Pricing is in US dollars; conversion to euros is added as a convenience.) For product frozen on land, captured in pots and trawl nets: SIZE 3 (two to three kilograms) USD 17,700 (EUR 15,059) ; SIZE 4 (1.5 to 2 kg) USD 16,700 EUR 14,208); SIZE 5 (1.2 to 1.5 kg) USD 15,600 (EUR 13,272); SIZE 6 (0.8 to 1.2 kg) USD 13,300 (EUR 11,319) ; SIZE 7 (0.5 to 0.8 kg) USD 12,910 (EUR 10,983); SIZE 8 (0.3 to 0.8) USD 12,400 (EUR 10,549).
Frozen on land, caught in pots: PR 1: USD 14,550 (EUR 12,379); PR 2: USD 14,300 (EUR 12,166); PR 3: USD 12,670 (EUR 10,779). PR indicates a product range: PR1 is T1-T4 (mixed), PR2 is T5-T9 (mixed), and PR3 is T1-T9 (mixed).
Captured in trawl nets, frozen on land: PR 1: USD 14,550 (EUR 12,336); PR 2: USD 14,300 (EUR 12,166); PR 3: USD 12,670 (EUR 10,779).
Frozen on board: SIZE 3: USD 17,500 (EUR 14,889); SIZE 4: USD 16,500 (EUR 14,038); SIZE 5: USD 15,400 (EUR 13,096); SIZE 6: USD 13,100 (EUR 11,140); SIZE 7: USD 12,710 (EUR 10,813); SIZE 8: USD 12,200 (EUR 10,374).
Historical data on SMCP pricing shows a steep price hikes from 2017 to this year. Autumn prices for size 3 were USD 13,200 per metric ton (now up by USD 4,500 or 34 percent); for size 4 the price was USD 12,200 (now up by about by 4,500 or 36 percent); for size 5, the price was USD 11,000 (now up by 4,500 or 40 percent); size 6 was USD 10,325 (now up 3,975 or up 38 percent); size 7 was USD 9,010 (now up by 3,900 or up 43 percent); Size 8 was USD 8,485 (now up by 3,915 or 46 percent).
The Japanese market prefers size 6. When it cannot be had a reasonable price, Japanese buyers move to sizes 7 and 8.
