SEAFOOD.COM NEWS by John Sackton — January 15, 2014 — The 3rd annual NFI Global Seafood Market Conference opened in Miami yesterday with record attendance. Over 410 people registered, up about 15% from last year’s meeting in Santa Monica.
The conference looks at both seafood industry product outlooks, for species like shrimp, salmon, whitefish and many others, and also the relationship between seafood and competing proteins.
On the macro outlook, presenters suggested that the huge fall in corn prices is going to result in lower feed costs, and for beef – which currently is in short supply and priced at strong levels, there is a move to rebuild US cattle herds.
But the overall issue of the conference is the high seafood prices for many items – especially shrimp, but also salmon, and many other shellfish. The exception is cod, which is priced at a level where it should have an opportunity to expand market share.
The only species where US per capita consumption has increased is farmed tilapia and pangasius, and in general, both per capita consumption and overall total volume of seafood is declining.
This is a reaction to pricing; and that pricing is being driven by external factors. If there is one theme that is echoing throughout the conference, it is that US buyers no longer can control their fate. Emerging markets are having a huge impact for demand, and consequently pricing, for products like salmon.
Other products like shrimp are experiencing huge disruptions due to disease, despite the fact that there is good production growth in countries such as Indonesia, India, Ecuador and Vietnam.
The conference seems to have filled a need in the industry for a content driven meeting that also provides the opportunity for meetings and other business, done in conjunction with NFI’s business meetings.
NFI is an extremely healthy organization according to reports from the board meeting. Membership has increased, revenues are above projections and the budget came in with a surplus. The conference is showing some of the synergy in the industry that comes from addressing some of the changing conditions facing the industry across many different types of businesses and species groups.
For 2015, the Global Seafood Market conference will be held in Las Vegas, in the Four Seasons Hotel, at the end of January.
This story originally appeared on Seafood.com, a subscription site. It has been reprinted with permission.