SEAFOOD.COM NEWS by John Sackton May 21, 2013 — With landings continuing to be heavy and “shore price” established of $2.75 for canners and $3.25 for market lobsters, processors say that these prices are not reflective of their actual costs.
Most lobsters in the maritimes are sold to commission buyers who arrange for delivery to plants, and who sometimes supply bait, and on average, they get about 50 cents more at the plant door than the “shore price.”
Some of the commission buyers share this amount back with their fishermen, so a type of bidding war takes place among commission agents as to who will give the biggest kickback to keep their group of harvesters. Commission buyers also pay transportation.
Processors have expressed concerns that their customers don’t understand the true cost of the lobster at the plant door – which is about 50 cents higher than the shore price at this time.
The biggest problem now continues to be where to put all the lobsters as all plants have limited storage, and have to balance their different markets – live vs. canners vs. markets etc., when what comes in may not match their customer needs.
All present indications are for another season of very high abundance for lobsters in the Maritimes.
This story originally appeared on Seafood.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.