Trident Seafoods dropped the price for Alaska Chum salmon over the weekend, dropping it between 60 and 20 cents a kilogram in all types of fisheries. Trident Seafoods also revealed plans to lower the prices of pink salmon. Trident claims Russian pink salmon stocks are impacting demand for all types of salmon.
Trident is the biggest U.S.-owned fishing processor in Alaska and has dozens of processing facilities and vessels. Trident announced the price decrease in a letter sent to fishermen last Saturday warning that the chum salmon market has been wiped out. The company didn’t go into detail or respond to inquiries for clarification.
However, the Alaska Seafood Market Institute’s executive director Jeremy Woodrow, said it’s the truth — the salmon markets are overflowing.
“The entire global market for salmon is currently in turmoil,” Woodrow said. “So I would suggest it’s not just about chum salmon, but it’s also chum salmon as well as pink salmon, and every salmon species.”
He stated that Alaskan Chum salmon also face particular competitors from Japan.
“Japan’s Hokkaido chum salmon fishery has returned after years of declining and has brought more Chum salmon on the market, too,” Woodrow said.
In the summer of Bristol Bay, Trident Seafoods was the first processor to reduce prices for sockeye, prompting fishermen to voice their displeasure. Two other processors in the region also announced price reductions within a couple of days. In Petersburg the two major processing companies are Trident as well as OBI Seafoods. OBI Seafoods’ representative OBI did not comment on the possibility of them also reduce chum prices.
In its letter Trident announced that they would lower the prices for pink after a substantial quantity of pinks with a pale meat colors, also known as PMC. The salmon meat appears paler when it’s the last day of a fish’s life as nutrients are absorbed into the production of eggs and the sperm bags. It’s less popular and of less high-quality. Salmon with lighter meats are mature eggs of salmon. The eggs usually are the reason the meat’s paleness and less expensive market value However, in the opinion of Woodrow, Russia is having one of the largest pink salmon years ever. Woodrow said this is making it difficult to be competitive.
“Russia’s selling their salmon for significantly lower prices on the international market,” said Woodrow. “[Themost recent report I read was that they’re probably going to harvest twice as much salmon as Alaska’s harvest is expected to be.”
Woodrow claimed that inflation also has affected the global market for seafood.
“When consumers are less able to spend their power, they are more likely to take seafood off of the carts of shopping,” Woodrow said.
But this is changing. As the inflation rate drops consumers are beginning to act differently.
“Consumers are beginning to add seafood items to their shopping lists,” he said. “They’re beginning to eat out a bit more frequently and are buying seafood when they dine out eating out in restaurants.”
Woodrow stated that the massive global salmon harvests could at the very least continue to grow into autumn. However, overall, it appears like the demand for seafood is rising. It could also affect prices of seafood in the months ahead.
