With favorable weather in the Bering Sea, crabbers are pulling in a high volume of snow crab (opilio) and bairdi crab. As a result, ex-vessel opilio prices are lower than last season, falling to a USD 1.70 (EUR 1.50) per pound starting price versus USD 2.15 (EUR 1.90) a pound for the 2013-2014 season.
Suppliers say it is too early in the season to release prices, but frozen Canadian crab is a value at USD 5.25 (EUR 4.64) to USD 5.40 (EUR 4.78) a pound, 5-8 ounces, f.o.b. mid-Atlantic, on average. Some U.S. grocery chains are featuring frozen/refreshed snow crab for as low as USD 7.99 (EUR 7.05) a pound.
“It looks like a pretty good market this year for people to buy snow crab, especially bairdi. It used to command a substantial premium over [opilio],” said Jake Jacobson, executive director of the Inter-Cooperative Exchange (ICE), a group of crabbing boats that delivers to 10 processors.
Snow crab supplies are being aided by an earlier start to the season — in early December — versus its typical January start. “Ice really impacted the fishery in 2012, so the sooner they get started, the less trouble they will have with that,” Heather Fitch, area management biologist for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game at Dutch Harbor, Alaska, told SeafoodSource. “The ice is very far up north; we haven’t seen any interference this season.”
ICE has already hauled in nearly one-third of its allotment of the Total Allowable Catch (TAC) of opilio at 67.95 million pounds for the 2014/2015 Bering Sea District season.
The bairdi catch is also healthy this season. Crabbers have landed nearly 7.9 milion pounds of bairdi crab in the eastern Bering Sea and 1.4 million pounds in the western Bering Sea, according to the AFDF.
Suppliers report that bairdi is selling for between USD 5.00 (EUR 4.40) and USD 5.60 (EUR 4.95) per pound, compared to between USD 6.15 (EUR 5.44) and USD 6.75 (EUR 5.94) a pound last season. Last season’s starting ex-vessel prices were also steady to slightly higher at USD 2.28 (EUR 2.21) a pound for the Eastern Bering Sea versus USD 2.28 (EUR 2.21) a pound for the 2014-2015 season and USD 2.31 (EUR 2.03), compared to USD 2.16 (EUR 1.91) a pound this season for the Western Bering Sea, according to AFDF.
While bairdi is relatively unknown among U.S. consumers, more American and international buyers are interested in the larger, high-quality crab. “A few years ago, there was no bairdi quota and we lost our market. Now it is starting to come back and is sold all over as a large opilio,” Jacobson said. “It’s a great opportunity for domestic buyers to get a real premium crab at a reasonable price.”
Historically, Japanese buyers are big buyers of bairdi — and all snow crab — but their buying power is diminished with the signficiant decline in the value of the yen. “Even though the Russian ruble has tanked further than the yen, it is still a bargain for [Japanese buyers] them to buy from Russia. It’s disconcerting to us,” Jacobson said.
To boost awareness and sales of bairdi, the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute (ASMI), ICE and others have stepped up sampling and other marketing efforts. For example, at the November 2014, meeting of the Global Culinary Innovators Association in Seattle, ASMI conducted a taste test of king, opilio and bairdi crab. “Sixty-three percent of the chefs preferred bairdi,” Jacobson said.
And Jacobson anticipates increased demand for bairdi in the future. “Our stocks are rebounding quite well and it’s such a premium product. We think it will do really well.”
