Saving Seafood

NFI moves GSMC 2021 virtual, with in-person event still planned in May

November 24, 2020 — The National Fisheries Institute (NFI), the U.S. seafood industry’s foremost trade group, has announced its 2021 Global Seafood Market Conference (GSMC) will take place online from 1 to 5 February.

The conference, which offers seafood marketplace data to NFI members and doubles as the NFI’s annual meeting, which was originally scheduled to take place in Coronado, California, U.S.A. in January. In July 2020, NFI announced it would be moving the conference to 23 to 28 May, 2021, as a result of the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

NFI Statement on Rescheduling of the 2021 Global Seafood Market Conference

July 30, 2020 — The following was released by the National Fisheries Institute:

The National Fisheries Institute (NFI) has decided to reschedule the 2021 Global Seafood Market Conference (GSMC) from January to May as part of an effort to ensure attendees are able to join this important annual event.

Throughout the ongoing pandemic NFI has produced webinars on everything from COVID-19 market impacts to regulatory changes and value chain alterations. The success of these presentations and the significant attendance illustrate that members of the seafood community are hungry for detailed trend and data analysis, the hallmarks of the annual GSMC. While the digital space is an important platform, hour-long virtual meetings provide a limited experience compared to a full program.

Moving the conference allows NFI to continue to offer this event and provide much needed critical information during a time when there has been so much disruption in the market.

GSMC will be held 23 – 28 May 2021 at the Loews Coronado Bay Resort in Coronado, California and NFI will provide more details in the coming months.

Experts predict cod market will remain strong in 2020

January 30, 2020 — A panel of experts at the Global Seafood Market Conference (GSMC), held last week in Orlando, Florida, U.S.A.predicted the cod market will remain strong in 2020, thanks to relatively flat supplies and strong demand.

Global cod fisheries are expected to harvest just over 1.5 million metric tons (MT) in 2020, roughly the same amount harvested in 2019. As supplies remain strong but relatively stagnant, demand for the fish appears strong, with the price per MT in 2019 higher than at any other points in the past decade.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Lack of haddock means US importers can’t capitalize on removal from China tariff list

January 23, 2020 — Haddock has been cut from the US list of products from China subject to 25% tariffs, but there is little fish available to capitalize on this opening.

Haddock and flatfish were removed in the ‘list three’ tariffs on Dec. 17 last year, around a month before the “phase one” agreement between the US and China that effectively paused the trade war at the current levels. The bulk of seafood from China still has 25% tariffs on it into the US. China has 35% tariffs on US seafood but has committed to buying $200 billion worth of additional US products, goods and services over the next two years, reducing the US’ bilateral trade deficit in goods, which hit $420bn in 2018.

There was a “concerted effort” from the National Fisheries Institute (NFI) and industry to get haddock excluded, Todd Clark, of importer Endeavor Seafood, told Undercurrent News at the NFI’s 2020 Global Seafood Market Conference (GSMC).

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Maine lobster harvest topped 100m lbs again

January 23, 2019 — The Maine Department of Marine Resources is still auditing its 2018 lobster catch and won’t issue a report until February, but department spokesperson Jeff Nichols has reportedly confirmed that the US state landed more than 100 million lbs for the eighth year in a row.

Speaking at the National Fisheries Institute’s Global Seafood Market Conference, in San Diego, California, last week, Keith Moores, president of Gloucester, Massachusetts-based frozen seafood supplier J.W. Bryce, estimated that Maine’s 4,500 harvesters landed about 119m lbs of lobster in 2018, an 8m lb increase over 2017, the Portland (Maine) Press Herald reported.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Survey on US seafood consumption contains surprises

January 23, 2019 — While almost half of all Americans eat little to no seafood, many Americans love the stuff – and are willing to spend more time shopping for it and more money to buy it so they can eat it regularly.

The Food Marketing Institute’s first-ever Power of Seafood survey of more than 2,000 U.S. shoppers found numerous reasons as to why more Americans aren’t buying seafood, and discovered hurdles preventing even the most ardent fans of seafood from buying more.

FMI Vice President of Fresh Foods Rick Stein presented the initial results of the survey at the 2019 Global Seafood Market Conference in Coronado, California, U.S.A. on 17 January.  FMI surveyed 2,096 grocery shoppers representative of the general U.S. population in regard to geography, age, and gender. FMI also incorporated data from sources including IRI, Nielson, Technomics, and Datassentials into its results. The full results of the survey will be released at the 2019 Seafood Expo North America in Boston, Massachusetts, in March.

Read the full story at Seafood Source