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Issue link: https://seafoodbusiness.epubxp.com/i/112398
Top Story Continued from page 32 supply chains by import prices they couldn���t match. Some took losses on sales to keep longtime customers. ���Tis underselling [of imported shrimp] has been getting worse since the oil spill in 2010,��� Carson Kimbrough, president of Carson & Co., a shrimp processor in Bon Secour, Ala., testi���ed at the ITC���s public conference on Jan. 18. ���Foreign producers have used aggressive price undercutting to keep hold of the increased market share they seized while the domestic shrimp ���shery was closed.��� Suppliers like Kimbrough begrudgingly turned to alternative sources out of necessity. ���We also process some imported shrimp,��� Kimbrough testi���ed. ���We do this because our customers buy both domestic and imported shrimp for the same uses, and when they need to meet a lower price point, they demand that we satisfy that price point by supplying imports instead of domestic shrimp. I would like to be able to supply my customers with all domestic product, but if I can���t meet the price of imports in the market, I will lose those customers altogether.��� John Connelly of NFI points out that most of the domestic shrimp suppliers who testi���ed before the ITC also rely on imported product. ���How does a 84 SeaFood Business company that relies on both survive by attacking a portion of its own supply source?��� he asks. ���[Te United States is] and will remain an important market. But when we throw up roadblocks to companies that compete successfully it harms markets that want to export here. Trade is a two-way street. We get bene���ts, and exporters get bene���ts. When you harm one side of that equation, it creates an imbalance on the other side. Te U.S. needs to be very careful about that.��� USA: Dysfunction junction All of the importers that SeaFood Business contacted expressed some degree of concern about the image of the U.S. market and its attractiveness to suppliers around the world given the contentiousness and uncertainty inherent in its complex regulatory regime. Not only that, they feel that seafood buyers around the country don���t realize how complicated their business environment has become; the hoops they jump through are often unappreciated. ���People have a false sense that it���s a smooth operating climate but it���s anything but,��� says Fass of MPI, who sits on a CBP advisory panel and is well schooled on the myriad regulations for shrimp importers. Tey have to contend with tari���s, bonds and deposits, all of which can tie up millions of dollars in capital. March 2013 ���We���re the only country in the world with a retrospective [tari���] system: Pay a deposit, then pay duties down the road,��� he says. ���It���s completely dysfunctional. It���s always been that way, and the lawyers love it that way; they say you get more accurate duties. I���d argue every one of their points is wrong. Shrimp will ���nd its way here.��� ���Te United States is so big it���s been getting away with this bad behavior for so many years,��� adds Rushford. ���I don���t know if the other countries will roll over or not.��� A ���nal ITC determination is due by the end of July, but other sources say the CVD case could be drawn out until the end of this year. Some say the impacts of this issue go beyond shrimp. ���We���re going to be hit with retaliation,��� says Fass. ���Tis is a major case that will capture attention with our partners around the world.��� Veal of COGSI says the complaint is not only legitimate, but will help save an industry that���s important to the Gulf and South Atlantic. ���Beyond that, it���s important to the people of this country to remember that at some point, if we continue to export dollars in exchange for material goods, those dollars won���t be here anymore,��� he says. ���No country survives long as a net consumer.��� What���s in Store Global Foodservice Continued from page 38 Continued from page 44 requested a sit-down option to add to its ���Cod & Carry��� line of prepared foods. ���For many years, customers asked for a restaurant where they can eat the stone crabs, soup and other seafood,��� Gyland says. Te 78-seat Cod & Capers Caf�� serves lunch and dinner six days a week with specials like the Fried Oyster Roll for $14 and the Florida Lobster Risotto for $28. Te caf�� slowly ramped up its hours and is now open Monday through Saturday for lunch, and Wednesday through Saturday for dinner. While caf�� sales account for around 4 percent of Cod & Capers��� overall sales, Gyland expects that to grow to around 15 percent by the end of the year. Wholesale is still Cod & Capers��� biggest moneymaker at more than 80 percent of overall sales, but retail is also performing well at around 13 percent of all sales, up from 10 percent at the previous location. Utilizing local, sustainable seafood and hiring knowledgeable sta��� are among the ���sh market���s keys to success. ���We educate clerks so they can answer anything that customers ask. If they don���t know the answer, they ���nd out,��� Gyland says. A typical three-course dinner for two with wine costs around ��80 ($127). Appetizers like pan-fried scallops and smoked haddock soup precede entr��es like grilled ���llet of hake with pumpkin seeds and couscous for ��16.75 ($26.70) and seared medallions of monk���sh, artichoke pur��e and duck reduction for ��18.50 ($29.50). ���O��� the boat at the moment, we���re getting wild bass, hake, gurnard and herring. We���re also getting good mackerel at the moment,��� says Tabb. ���I���ve found that people are now much more comfortable with ���sh that would once have been considered unusual, like gurnard. Tis ���sh was used as bait when I started, but it now attracts decent money.��� Tabb notes, however, that ���sh prices are going up. ���It certainly doesn���t ���feel��� cheap anymore,��� he says. ���Fish has become more of a luxury item.��� While higher costs will inevitably have an impact on people���s willingness to travel and eat out, the Cornish seafood scene remains robust. Quality restaurants add enormously to the region���s image as an idyllic rural vacation spot (Prime Minster David Cameron makes an annual trip here). Te Cornish food revolution continues. Email Senior Editor James Wright at jwright@ divcom.com Contributing Editor Christine Blank lives in Lake Mary, Fla. Contributing Editor Anthony Fletcher lives in Brussels Visit us online at www.seafoodbusiness.com