EP 358 | AIRED 10/23/2017

Drastically Low Hokkaido Chum Salmon Harvests Force Buyers To Look Elsewhere

October 23, 2017 - Welcome to The Tradex Foods "3-Minute Market Insight" This is Robert Reierson and here is the seafood news for the week of October 23rd, 2017.

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--- --- Hokkaido Chum salmon harvests are drastically lower this season, forcing many Japanese buyers to seek Chum elsewhere. Chum salmon in the Hokkaido region of Japan begins in September and last for only a couple of months. Sizing is predominately the same as Russian and Alaskan Chum salmon this year, falling mostly into 4-6lb and 6-9lb. Harvests in Hokkaido this year were especially poor, after forecasts predicted the second worst catch in 25 year due to colder water temperatures. 24.8 million salmon were expected to be caught this year, but recent reports from the Hokkaido Research Organization show this year's harvests down 40 percent. With poor catch comes strong pricing, as raw materials are in the range of $4,700 to $4,800 per metric tonnes. Hokkaido Chum salmon typically stays in Japan's domestic salmon market - it is difficult to export this salmon to China or the European Union after the nuclear disaster in Fukushima in 2011. Japanese buyers seek Russian chum salmon when their domestic fishery is short, which has pushed up Russian chum pricing to nearly $4,900 per metric tonne, which only the Japenese market can accept. --- Russian chum salmon is predominately harvested in the Sakhalin Region and in Kamchatka. The Russian Federal Agency for Fisheries released catch statistics last Wednesday, reporting 350 thousand metric tonnes of Pacific salmon harvested in 2017, about 81 thousand less than in 2016 and 5 thousand tons lower than in 2015. This year, Russia has exported 17 thousand metric tonnes of salmon from Kamchatka, with nearly 80 percent destined for Japan. Sockeye is their main export, with chum salmon totalling only 8.3 percent of exports. With harvests down significantly this year, we expect Japanese buyers to continue to seek Russian chum, which could continue to pressure raw material pricing. --- Finally, our TradexLIVE offer of the week is for 8-16oz shatterpack Skinless Boneless Cod fillets. We have 20,000 lbs of these #1 quality, MSC certified fillets available in Seattle for $4.20 per pound USD. Click or tap the icon above to view this offer. ----Thank you for joining me for the Tradex Foods "3-Minute Market Insight" This is Robert Reierson - “BUY SMART” and “EAT MORE SEAFOOD"

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