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Issue link: https://seafoodbusiness.epubxp.com/i/79767
Market Report Sea bass report markets have under- pinned the sector dur- ing the economic crisis. Looking ahead, China and Brazil are ear- marked as other mar- kets with huge potential in the near future. Greece dominates production, but it's not without stiff competi- tion. In fact, neighbor- ing Turkey has been ramping up production in such an aggressive way that it could rival Greece for the top spot by the decade's end. Last year, the Turk- ish aquaculture sector produced 70,000 MT of bass and bream and could reach 100,000 MT in 2012. It also now exports its fish to more than 40 countries. — Jason Holland Bristol Bay shortfall impacts fillet market Sparse king salmon fetch more than $7 a pound A shortfall in the expected catch of Bristol Bay salmon has put a dent in the avail- ability of Alaska sockeye fillets, but all in all it's been a fair season, says an executive with one Seattle-based processor. "Te market is a little bit dry on sockeye fil- lets domestically. Te canned market has ac- tually been OK, and because of that I think people are waiting a little bit longer to fillet," the executive says. "Once Bristol Bay fell short, the rest of Alaska can't make up for all of those reds. It fell fairly short, and that's a lot of fish. Pinks, it's just a down like 20 percent, salmon between $2.10 and $2.25 for gillnet chums to $3.60 to $3.85 for gillnet sockeye. Prices for frozen chum fillets and portions year. It appears to be a strong year for chums, terrible for kings." Chum prices have been soft, sockeye prices have been fair, and prices for pinks are strong, the execu- tive says. Reports from the beginning of Au- gust had prices for fresh whole salmon ranging from $1.40 to $1.70 a pound for gillnet-caught chums to more than $7 a pound for troll-caught kings. Prices for frozen H&G; salmon were running Bright times ahead for Spain's albacore tuna Sector sees increased sales activity, expansion plans C laiming to produce the best quality meat along what Span- iards refer to as "the bonito coast," the Bay of Biscay on the north- ern Cantabrian Coast is abundant with albacore tuna stocks — a main- stay of household diets during its June-to-Oc- tober high season. Commonly bonito del norte, white meat tuna and longfin tuna (Tunnus alalun- ga), the year-round availability throughout Mediterranean, Atlan- tic, Indian and Pacific waters sees Spain as the principal destination for fresh, frozen, smoked and canned albacore. Albacore sales spike albacore albacore prices per ki- logram stood at €6.01 ($7.36) at Mercama- drid; €6.50 ($7.96) at Mercabarna; €5.50 over the summer called months when they're at peak freshness, ul- timate quality and fa- vorable pricing. While 216 metric tons (MT) of fresh albacore were sold through Barcelona Central Fish Market (Mercabarna) at €5.70 ($7) per kilogram be- tween January and July this year, this volume outpaces the 256 MT sold during the whole of 2011 priced at €5.35 ($6.55) per kilogram. In mid-July, Spain's municipal market fresh Visit us online at www.seafoodbusiness.com ($6.74) at Mercabilbao; and €7.80 ($9.55) at Mercavalencia. "Albacore differs from other tunas in that its pectoral fins are very long and importantly, unlike with other types of tuna, albacore's flesh is white, not red," says Mercabarna's Jordi De- fez Torelló. "Tese fea- tures are crucial when assessing this fish for sale, because consumers associate the red meat color with various types of tuna. As such, the price of albacore is 'usu- ally' lower than others." Torelló further ex- plained that informa- tion relating to sup- plies of frozen albacore is lacking due to poor product marketing. Grupo Consorcio revealed a 12 percent share of the Spanish canned albacore mar- ket in June following research by Symphony- IRI Group. Consorcio's marketing director, Eduardo Sanfilippo, said: "We registered 63 percent sales volume increase this past year. Tis shows the com- pany's growth and ex- pansion in bonito sales in the domestic market where we were already a leader in anchovy sales." — Chris Dove ranged from $3.75 to $4.40. Te lack of kings is not just an Alaska is- sue. Te owner of one East Coast distributor says boats in California were staying tied to the dock earlier this sum- mer unless they could get prices of $6 or more a pound — more than double what they used to command a few years ago. "Te crazy Califor- nia boats decided if they can't get record prices they won't fish," the ex- ecutive says. Wild salmon is impacted by farmed salmon sales, as farmed prices are down signifi- cantly. Norwegian pro- ducers "carpet bombed" the Pacific Rim nations with Atlantic salmon at the start of the summer, and Chilean producers are doing the same with coho, the executive says. "I've heard from the people sending wild coho to Japan that they're scared to death because there is so much fish that is in stor- age and is not selling," he says. "Te Japanese are promoting coho 24/7. I'm concerned about how the coho is changing multiple mar- kets, not just its own market." — SFB Staff Sea bream report (Continued from page 12) production on the Uwa Sea coast in Ehime Prefecture. By July 23, nearly 1.7 million farmed fish had died. Te affected area is home to many floating pens. Ehime Prefecture leads sea bream pro- duction in Japan. But the incident will dam- age efforts to promote the brand value of the prefecture in southwest Shikoku Island. Te prefecture had just start- ed a campaign to pro- mote consumption of farmed fish. Yellowtail and red sea bream are often farmed together. Much yellowtail is ex- ported, while sea bream is produced mostly for domestic consumption. — Chris Loew September 2012 SeaFood Business 17