Saving Seafood

For Northwest fishermen, latest catch is trade-war trouble

August 7, 2019 — As President Donald Trump announced new tariffs on China last week in a trade war with no end in sight, American salmon fisherman Sven Stroosma set his sights on the blue waters of the Gulf of Alaska, piloting his boat Voyager in search of a big salmon catch.

Alaskan salmon are running, and Pacific Northwest fishermen like Mr. Stroosma have only a few intense weeks in July and August to catch enough to sustain their family income for the coming year. Rough seas, equipment failures, and dry streams that limit spawning all threaten to hurt their haul.

This season, the U.S.-China trade conflict has increased pressure on salmon fishermen by depressing the price offered for their hard-earned catch. China, the biggest importer of Alaska seafood, included the industry in a 25% tariff increase imposed last year.

Read the full story at The Christian Science Monitor

Trump’s trade war with China takes a big bite out of Alaska and US seafood sales

August 7, 2019 — It’s been one year, so how’s that trade war with China working out for the nation’s seafood industry?

As with farmers, there’s not much winning, and ongoing tweeted skirmishes have global fish markets skittish.

The quick take is the 25 percent retaliatory tariff imposed by China on US imports last July caused a 36 percent drop in US seafood sales, valued at $340 million, according to an in-depth analysis of Chinese customs data by Undercurrent News.

“Chinese imports of US seafood fell from $1.3 billion in the 12 months prior to tariffs (July 1, 2017-June 30, 2018), to $969m in the twelve months after (July 1, 2018-June 30, 2019), underlining the heavy impact of weaker demand for US seafood subject to tariffs, while poor catch of US wild-caught seafood was also to blame,” the News wrote.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News

China’s currency slide, mounting debt presents challenges to seafood industry

August 6, 2019 — This week, for the first time in over a decade, China’s currency fell below the psychologically important exchange rate of CNY 7.00 (USD 1.00, EUR 0.89) per U.S. dollar.

The news-making milestone will add to the pessimism in many Chinese boardrooms this summer over the long-term prospects for the country’s economy as the dispute between China and its largest customer – the United States – continues.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Trump announces 10 percent tariff on remaining Chinese imports

August 2, 2019 — U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted Thursday, 1 August, that once again a trade deal had fallen through with China, and as a result, the United States would seek to impose a 10 percent tariff on the remaining USD 300 billion (EUR 270 billion) in goods the U.S. imports from the world’s most populous country.

“We thought we had a deal with China three months ago, but sadly, China decided to re-negotiate the deal prior to signing,” Trump stated.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Trade war killed effort to create seafood futures market in China, expert says

August 2, 2019 — One lesser-known impact of the trade war between the United States and China is the abrupt end to reform of China’s seafood and soy trading system, which had been underway as part of a package that would also address the country’s underperforming commodities exchanges.

In the past decade, there has been discussion in China in favor of dismantling the system of state supports for the grain and oilseed sector so that prices come into line with the international market. There was also talk of a fish futures contract in Dalian and even much reported rumors of a Chinese takeover of the Chicago Stock Exchange as part of greater Chinese participation in international commodity price-setting institutions. However, all of those moves appear to be parked for now as China uses soy purchases as a weapon in its trade dispute with the U.S.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

ROBERT KEHOE: Commercial fishermen need relief from Chinese tariffs

July 24, 2019 — American businesses are being hit hard by retaliatory tariffs imposed by China on U.S. goods in response to the Trump administration’s trade policies. Commercial fisheries are no exception.

The Purse Seine Vessel Owners’ Association represents the interests of the “small boat” commercial fishing fleet. It represents some 290 vessel owners, about half of whom are based in Washington state with about two dozen from Seattle.

While the association is based in Seattle, which is the home of the North Pacific commercial fishing fleet and several large seafood processing companies, a large majority of members make their living harvesting wild-caught and sustainably managed salmon in Alaska.

Ultimately, what members want to see is a return to fair and open trade practices with our global trade partners, especially China, so that hard working, commercial fishing family-owned businesses can continue to earn a modest living supplying consumers with wild Alaska salmon. China is the largest of Alaska’s seafood export markets.

Read the full story at Seattle Times

Maine delegation asks for help easing tariff impact on lobster industry

July 15, 2019 — Maine’s Congressional delegation is urging the U.S. Department of Agriculture to include funding for Maine’s lobster industry as USDA finalizes its aid package for agricultural producers affected by China’s retaliatory tariffs.

U.S. Sens. Angus King, I-Maine, and Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Reps. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine 1st District, and Jared Golden, D-Maine 2nd District, have signed a letter that reiterates an earlier request of relief for Maine’s lobster industry amid the ongoing trade war with China, according to a news release.

“Retaliatory tariffs have caused a very significant export market for Maine lobster — China — to all but disappear,” the letter says.

The delegation requested “significant” funds for Maine’s lobster industry through USDA’s Agricultural Trade Promotion Program.

“ATP funding will help to develop new export markets for Maine lobster, decreasing the blow of Chinese tariffs on an iconic American industry,” the letter said.

In June, the delegation sent a letter to President Donald Trump urging him to provide financial assistance to lobster businesses hurt by the ongoing trade war with China, similar to the relief being provided to American farmers.

The delegation noted that prior to the Trump administration’s tariffs imposed on a variety of Chinese goods, China had become the second largest importer of Maine lobster.

Read the full story at MaineBiz

Gloucester Lobster Industry Feeling The Pinch From China Trade War

July 11, 2019 — In Massachusetts, lobster is about as local a food as you can hope to find. These days, it’s also likely to be on the menu in Beijing and Shanghai. China has become a major lobster importer.

But one year into the U.S. trade war with China, U.S. lobster sales to China are down, and coastal communities — including Gloucester — are feeling the pinch.

Vince Mortillaro, who runs a lobster wholesale company in Gloucester, has worked over the last decade to capitalize on the demand for lobster from China, developing systems that enable him to ship fresh lobster from Gloucester to China in 36 hours and spending $3 million to build a new dock and warehouse to hold extra product.

The payoff was enormous: a 30 to 40 percent jump in business.

Then the trade war began, and lobster, like soybeans and steel, was caught in the cross hairs. In response to U.S. tariff increases on Chinese goods in July 2018, China raised tariffs on U.S. imports — including lobster. It now costs Chinese companies an extra 25 percent to buy lobsters from the U.S.

“We’re down over $6 million in sales,” said Mortillaro. “Over a million dollars a month.”

But China is still importing plenty of lobster — now, from Mortillaro’s competitors in Canada. In the wake of raising U.S. lobster tariffs, China lowered tariffs on Canadian lobsters to 7 percent.

Read the full story at WGBH

Lobster dealers feel pinch in tariff trade wars

July 3, 2019 — A year ago this month, China imposed a sweeping array of retaliatory tariffs that effectively closed off the massive Chinese consumer market to U.S. seafood dealers — particularly lobster exporters such as Mortillaro Lobster of Gloucester.

Consider: Mortillaro estimates that during the first six months of 2019, the 25% Chinese tariffs have cost it more than a half-million pounds of lobster sales to China, valued at about $6 million.

“The impact has been huge,” Vince Mortillaro, one of the owners of the Gloucester seafood dealer, said Tuesday afternoon. “We’ve had to lay people off. We’re not losing a barrel-full right now, but we’re not really making any money, either. And it’s tough to come to work when the company’s not really making any money.”

And it’s not just China.

Mortillaro and other lobster exporters also have been stung by deep cuts in lobster sales to the European Union — primarily because of an exclusive trade deal between Canada and the EU that frees Canadian lobster exporters from any tariffs while imposing an 8% tariff on shipments from the U.S.

“We used to sell more to the EU than to China,” Mortillaro said. “Now we’ve got the double-whammy. We can’t sell to the 28 EU countries and we can’t sell to China.”

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

Moulton, Ferrante: Trade war hurting lobstermen

July 1, 2019 — The U.S. trade war with China has turned into a war of another kind, as representatives at the state and federal levels are taking aim at tariffs that have rocked several sectors of the New England seafood industry.

In Washington, U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton, a Democratic candidate for president, filed legislation to expand disaster relief to fisheries — such as the New England lobster industry — harmed by retaliatory tariffs that have choked off lucrative trade with China.

The bill calls for amending the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act “to require NOAA to evaluate the impacts of duties imposed on American seafood” and to ultimately allow the federal Department of Commerce to consider the impact of trade wars on the fishing industry as a means of providing disaster relief.

A similar measure was filed in the U.S. Senate by Sen. Ron Wyden, the senior senator from Oregon.

“The president’s lack of strategy and the uncertainty in our local economy is the perfect storm for local fishermen who are already doing more with less,” Moulton said in a statement. “Until the president ends his misguided trade war, Congress should step up and provide some relief.”

In Boston, state Rep. Ann-Margaret Ferrante of Gloucester pushed for a hearing in Gloucester by a joint committee of the Massachusetts Legislature on the Trump administration’s trade policies with China “and its effects on the Massachusetts lobster industry and corresponding ports.”

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times