Alaska red king crab supplies are so short this season that prices have soared to record highs.
Before the season started on 15 October, Japanese buyers contracted for an estimated 60 percent of the landings. The favorable yen-to-dollar ratio helped Japanese buyers acquire more product.
“The companies in Japan did very well last year with red king crab, so they came in this year with a positive attitude,” said one wholesaler.
In addition, other major king crab buyers have already contracted their loads, resulting in smaller restaurant companies and other buyers scrambling to find enough crab. In addition, this year’s quota is down around 6 percent to 15 million pounds.
“It is really a worldwide shortage — we are getting requests from Moscow, Taiwan, Japan and China — but we can’t buy it,” says the wholesaler.
The tighter supply has led to historic red king crab prices, with wholesale prices between USD 15 and USD 16 a pound.
“This is the highest-priced king crab in the history of king crab. It is about 50 percent higher than last year,” said one buyer.
“The highest previous price I saw was USD 11.90 [wholesale] in 1992,” said another wholesaler.
Another factor affecting this season’s king crab supply is reduced landings from the Bering Sea. There is less poached king crab coming in from Russia and the Bering Sea, cutting down on overall supply.
Some restaurant operators and other buyers did not realize until early November that the supply would be tight, and now they’re having difficulty finding product.
“I am getting five calls a day from guys who buy 5,000 to 20,000 pounds a year. We cannot get crab for them. The only ones who don’t have any uncommitted product right now are smaller processors,” said another Alaska crab wholesaler.
Alaska king crab fishing is expected to wrap up the first week of December.
