Saving Seafood

Some tariffs may be gone, but wholesale seafood industry is still reeling

March 19, 2026 — Walking into the Thomas M. Menino Convention & Exhibition Center in Boston, you can smell the seafood. Which makes sense given that it’s hosting the country’s largest wholesale seafood expo. Suppliers from around the world dole out samples of fresh sashimi, crispy fish sticks, and seaweed salad.

“It’s sweet, and it’s a little bit spicy, and it’s a compliment to meat or heavier stuff,” said Camille Zhu, who runs a seaweed company on the coast of Shandong province in Northern China.

She began selling to the U.S. just last year and said it’s been hard with all the trade tensions and tariffs. But she’s confident in her product.

“People are starting to accept seaweed as a source of nutrition, and they’re looking for a healthy diet,” she said. “And with the popularity of Japanese cuisine, yeah, it’s getting pretty big for us.”

About 80% of seafood consumed in the U.S. is imported. Some of the biggest suppliers —including China and India — have seen some of the highest tariffs from the Trump administration in the past year. All that has thrown the global seafood trade into chaos.

Read the full article at Marketplace

Seafood inflation outpaces food inflation in January, but winter storms cause shelf-stable sales to soar in US

February 18, 2026 — Seafood sales values increased across the U.S. as a combination of environmental factors and inflation lead to double-digit percentage increases.

Winter storms across many regions of the U.S. in January led to a surge in shelf-stable seafood and other retail seafood sales, including in the fresh and frozen categories. The storms caused Americans to eat at home in larger numbers during the month, and retail food and beverage volume jumped up 18 percent for the week ending 25 January, according to Circana data analyzed by 210 Analytics in Lakeland, Florida, U.S.A., while restaurant transactions fell 6 percent that week.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Retail seafood sales could get boost from moving outside the seafood section

January 23, 2026 — Seafood sales at retail rose slightly in 2025, and a panel of experts at the 2026 Global Seafood Market Conference, which took place 18 to 22 January in Hollywood, Florida, U.S.A., has urged the category to move beyond the seafood section to realize even more growth.

210 Analytics Principal Anne-Marie Roerink, during a panel on retail seafood sales at the conference, said the current shifts in shopping behavior presents big opportunities for seafood products that get creative and find better placement.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

US seafood inflation spiked at grocery stores to end 2025

January 15, 2026 — Seafood inflation at U.S. retail stores rose again to end 2025, leading to increases in sales by value but declines in sales by volume in most seafood categories in December.

The biggest price increases during the month came in frozen and shelf-stable seafood, which both jumped 8.4 percent in December, according to new data from Circana analyzed by Lakeland, Florida, U.S.A.-based 210 Analytics. Fresh seafood prices, meanwhile, increased 1.6 percent, led by finfish prices, which rose 3.3 percent.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Seafood sales for 2026 and beyond expected to benefit from health, protein trends

January 7, 2026 —  U.S. grocery sales are expected to continue on a steady growth trajectory over the next few years, and several consumer trends are pointing toward seafood being a top beneficiary of that growth.

According to a recent report from LLC Attorney, U.S. food retail sales are projected to soar from USD 245.8 billion (EUR 210 billion) in 2026 to USD 389 billion (EUR 333 billion) in 2029, enjoying a growth rate of more than 12 percent annually during that time frame. A large component of that projected growth will come from seafood, according to the firm, which predicted that seafood is expected to outpace every other food segment throughout the end of the decade, with projections of 13.8 percent annual growth and USD 11.4 billion (EUR 9.7 billion) in sales by 2029.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Seafood prices soar, but US retail sales still see some gains in November

December 18, 2025 — Despite a significant increase in seafood prices in November, overall U.S. seafood sales still realized some gains in the fresh and ambient categories.

Fresh seafood prices increased 4.1 percent in November, led by a spike in fresh shellfish prices of 8.4 percent compared to November 2024, according to data from Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.-based market research firm Circana analyzed by 210 Analytics.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Seafood inflation at US retail increased again in July; consumers continue turning toward value

August 12, 2025 — U.S. consumers paid more for seafood – and food overall – at retail stores in July, according to new data but the increases didn’t dent fresh sales volumes.

Fresh seafood prices increased 1.5 percent year over year at U.S. retail in the month, according to Lakeland, Florida, U.S.A.-based 210 Analytics, which analyzes data from market research firm Circana.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

US retail, restaurant groups express grave concerns with new tariff rates

August 6, 2025 — U.S. retail and restaurant trade groups are urging President Donald Trump to lower tariffs and pursue other measures to achieve his trade goals after he recently issued an executive order implementing new duty rates on 69 countries and the European Union.

“We encourage the [Trump] administration to negotiate binding trade agreements that truly open markets by lowering tariffs, not raising them,” National Retail Federation Executive Vice President of Government Relations David French said. “These higher tariffs will hurt Americans, including consumers, retailers and their employees, and manufacturers because the direct result of tariffs will be higher prices, decreased hiring, fewer capital expenditures, and slower innovation.”

Read the full article at SeafoodSource