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Market Report 0 50 100 150 200 250 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 Source: ADF&G; Bumper crop Alaska pink salmon harvest, in millions of fsh wild salmon Glut of pinks no sweat for Alaska suppliers Prices remain fairly steady despite large increase in volume anchovies Mixed results for the Peruvian anchoveta Court ruling favors Chile as harvest levels plummet Te dispute was over 38,000 square kilome- ters of the Pacifc Ocean that Chile controls through two agree- ments in the 1950s. However, Peru claimed these were fshing trea- ties and the zone has never been settled. In late January, ICJ at Te Hague gave its fnal ruling on the maritime dispute. Peru asked the court to ap- prove the settlement of a new starting point of the maritime border, but ICJ denied the pe- tition and ratifed the existing one. However, the parallel line will stay the same until mile 80, and then it will be fol- lowed by an equidistant line. Before the ruling, the parallel line was 200 miles long. Since Peruvian anchovies are harvested within 50 miles of shore, the Chilean government was pleased. However, it's not all good news. In the cen- tral regions of Chile, anchovy catches are decreasing. Last year's harvest was 120,000 MT and this year it is only 42,200 MT. "Te only way to re- cover the resource is by limiting them to levels that allow the sustain- able exploitation and that is what the govern- ment is working on," says a representative for one of the region's big- gest fshmeal compa- nies. — Brewington & Co. T he anchoveta fshery is the most impor- tant seafood resource in northern Chile. Rep- resenting 94 percent of the local catch, ancho- vies are mostly used for fshmeal, which comprises 19 percent of Chile's seafood exports. As of early March, super prime fshmeal reached $1,889 per metric ton (MT), prime fshmeal $1,758 per MT and the standard $1,701 per MT. Chile exports 49.8 percent of its fshmeal, mostly prime, to China. Te Chilean govern- ment was concerned about the fate of this resource when Peru presented a complaint regarding the maritime border to the Interna- tional Court of Justice (ICJ) in January 2008. I n 2012, Japan spent $1.1 billion to import around 195,000 metric tons (MT) of salmon, but last year, the United States was Chile's main market in terms of value, buying $1.144 billion. Japan ranked second in value with $840 million, followed by Latin America, with $657 million. In volume terms, Japan still led, importing 147,315 MT. Te United States and Latin America im- ported 124,434 and 101,241 MT, respectively. Chile has been giving more emphasis to the U.S. and Latin American markets (especially Brazil, Ar- gentina and Mexico) and to developing the Chi- nese market to ofset declines in Japan. Te weak yen helped to push down Japan's pur- chases. While the yen was in the 80-85 yen-to-dol- lar range for much of 2012, it sank to the 95-100 for most of 2013 and is now at 103, diminishing Japanese consumers' purchasing power. Meanwhile, Chilean suppliers are trying to pass along higher costs associated with lower stock- ing ratios and earlier harvests necessary to reduce the risk of mortality losses from disease, pollution and parasites. Wholesale prices in Japan for silver salmon Chilean salmon market shifts Japan no longer top export destination (Continued on page 19) executive says he only wishes there were more of them to sell. "We could sell them over three times what we could get. We've worked so hard to build this de- mand, and now it's gone way beyond what we T he record harvest of Alaska pink salmon last season continues to make its way through the marketplace, but an executive at one of the big market players says the glut of fsh is not a problem heading into the 2014 season. "Pink salmon last year was the biggest in history and prices stayed high. Tey never came down the entire season. I thought it was strange what was going on and nervous about what would happen but so far things are selling OK. Te value is hold- ing," the executive says. "Tere has been a little, very moderate, decline in prices, but nothing like you might expect based on the volumes." What does this all mean? Tere is a mar- ket for pinks, a defnite industrial niche for it, the executive says. "Also it tells me that it doesn't change the salmon universe," he says. "We can only have a certain limited efect. Alaskans don't want to hear that we don't control the world, but we don't." Because pinks are a two-year fsh — the harvests are always much higher in odd- numbered years — the 2013 bonanza won't be as hard to sell of. "Tat was more than a year's volume, but that's OK, because if you look at the projection for this upcoming year, by the time 2015 comes around, both years will have fushed through," the executive says. "It just means we have more of our fsh tied up with our banks." As for sockeyes, the 18 SeaFood Business April 2014 Visit us online at www.seafoodbusiness.com 18_19MarketReport.indd 18 3/25/14 2:25 PM