SEAFOODNEWS.COM by John Sackton — Sept. 18, 2014 — The US dollar hit a six year high against the Japanese Yen this week. As the US dollar gets stronger against a range of currencies, it is impacting US seafood trading.
The US dollar hit a six year high against the Japanese Yen this week. As the US dollar gets stronger against a range of currencies, it is impacting US seafood trading.
First, for importers, the US is becoming a more attractive market – whether for shrimp, king crab, snow crab or salmon, as the strong dollar gives an advantage to buyers who pay in US dollars.
We have already seen that the US demand for shrimp has reached record levels, and has grown far more than in Europe.
(chart- USD vs. Japanese Yen – Yahoo Finance)
At the same time, the Euro is weakening against the US currency, as signs point to lower or even negative interest rates in Europe, forcing the central bank to begin a US style asset purchase program.
So for Norwegian salmon and cod producers for example, the better exhange rate means expansion of the US market sales is far more feasible when the Euro is trading at $1.30 vs when it was trading near $1.60.
At the same time, for exporters, especially in Alaska, who depend on European and Japanese demand for whitefish and salmon, the high dollar is a headwind that is hurting prices.
After a couple of years of relatively little news on the currency front, the high level of the dollar again – against the Yen, the Euro, and the Canadian dollar is changing the seafood sales pattern in the U.S.
This story originally appeared on Seafood.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.