After a season marked by strong prices last year, we can expect a further increase in the price of crab, lobster, shrimp and scallops in 2022.
“It should be another year with very good prices. It’s not the best news for consumers, but hey, it’s like the rest,” says Bill Sheehan, president of the Quebec Association of the Fishing Industry (AQIP).
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The price mentioned by Mr. Sheehan, who is also vice-president of the largest seafood processing plant in eastern Quebec, E. Gagnon & Fils, in Sainte-Thérèse-de-Gaspé, c is the one fishermen get at the wharf.
Last year they received $8.50 a pound for snow crab and $8 to $10 a pound for lobster, significant increases from 2020.
“Historic” prices, underlines Bill Sheehan, who adds that “we are going to rewrite history this year”.
As the start of the 2022 season took place yesterday, at the Rimouski wharf, from where the first crabbers of the season left, it is a little early to decide on the price they will obtain this year. It will then be the turn of the shrimp, then the lobster.
USA buys everything
All the industry players consulted are however certain: it will be more than last year.
“We are talking regarding $3 or $4 more per pound for crab, lobster and scallops,” says Denis Côté, purchasing manager for Fruits de mer du Québec, a small Gaspé company whose wooden displays are clearly visible in many supermarkets in Quebec.
This is because buyers from the United States are more present than ever on the Quebec market, adds the entrepreneur, who has branches throughout the sector.
With reduced quotas in Alaska and Russian crab unable to make its way to the United States due to economic sanctions, the pressure will be high on processors here.
Quebecers only consume regarding 5% of what is caught at home, recalls André-Pierre Rossignol, of the NPO
GÎMXPORT, which aims to promote the economic development of Gaspésie and the Îles-de-la-Madeleine. At least 80% of our peaches are exported to the United States.
“It’s very difficult to have an exact figure, but above all it must be said that we import at least 80% of what we eat that comes from the sea,” he says.
More expensive at retail
Consumers who want to eat crab on Easter and lobster on Mother’s Day should therefore expect to pay top dollar.
“It’s going to be a pretty crazy season,” says the corporate chef of the Odessa fishmongers, Éric Lussier, regarding the prices.
His colleague Raphaël Vanderstocken, director of operations, confirms that this will be a season where “prices will soar”.
They talk regarding an increase of at least 20% compared to 2021, when live snow crab retailed at $19.99 a pound and lobster (from 1.5 pounds to 2 pounds) $17.99 the pound.
“Americans are paying top dollar, and so are we,” says Vanderstocken.
- Listen to Mario Dumont’s interview with Jean-Paul Gagné, General Manager of the Association québécoise de l’industrie de la pêche, on QUB radio:
Fruit prices of sea from here rising
Retail price of live crab in 2021: $19.99 per pound
- Expected price for 2022: $24.99 per pound
Retail price of lobster in 2021 (1.5 or 2 pounds): $17.99 per pound
- Expected price for 2022: $21.59 per pound
Sources: AQIP and Odessa
