Even as customs workers in Chile planned a second strike in mid-June, farmed salmon prices remain steady, buyers say. And, since the projected high Alaska salmon run has not yet come to fruition, fresh, wild sockeye prices are still strong.
However, buyers expect Chilean prices to soften as U.S. retail chains such as Costco drop Chilean salmon because of concerns over antibiotic use in production. “Chile is problematic, especially with antibiotic concerns. Retailers [in addition to Costco] are shying away from them,” said a West Coast U.S. distributor. As a result, the distributor has increased its buying of farmed salmon from Canada, Scotland and Norway.
While there was a spike of 15 to 20 cents per pound during the May Customs Workers’ strike, the price returned to between USD 3.70 (EUR 3.28) to USD 3.85 (EUR 3.41) per pound, headed and gutted, FOB Miami in late May, buyers say. “There was some talk of Chile salmon going up in price, but we haven’t seen it,” said a West Coast Canada distributor.
In addition, the larger Alaska sockeye opener in late June will create more pressure on Atlantic salmon, the Canadian distributor said. And salmon processors and wholesalers are still trying to move frozen wild inventory from 2014. Frozen sockeye is selling for as low as USD 2.10 (EUR 1.86) to USD 2.70 (EUR 2.39) per pound for 4/6 pound sockeyes and coho are also in the low USD 2 range, according to the Canadian buyer.
So far, the projected “big run” of wild salmon has not materialized, sad the West Coast U.S. distributor, so prices are still strong. “Prices haven’t come down to the levels of where they were at last year. Retailers are really banging on us for price reductions, so they can get some volume going,” the distributor said.
Fresh, wild sockeye is selling for USD 6.90 (EUR 6.10) to approximately USD 7.90 (EUR 6.99) per pound, headed and gutted, buyers report. “Fillet prices haven’t dropped that much; they are staying pretty firm,” the U.S. distributor said. To top it off, it has been more difficult to ship product from Alaska this season. “Getting product out of Alaska [via Alaska Air] has been challenging, and costs are up, even though fuel costs are down,” the U.S. distributor said.
As a result of strong wholesale prices, many U.S. retailers are running Copper River sockeye salmon on ad for between USD 19.99 (EUR 17.69) and USD 24.99 (EUR 22.11) per pound. However, some Kroger stores have lowered the price to USD 14.99 (EUR 13.27) a pound and some U.S. West Coast Safeway and Albertson’s stores were retailing the fish for USD 9.99 (EUR 8.84) a pound. “We have heard some fairly low retail prices on the West Coast – pretty much at cost,” the U.S. distributor said.
