--- --- This is Robert Reierson and here is the seafood news for Monday December 7th, 2015. --- With the new year approaching, the market is buzzing with predictions and market implications for 2016. The fallout from bankruptcies in Asia could pressure future production and supply. North American processors will have more product to sell to fill this gap. Weakened raw material pricing could present buyers with opportunities on value added products in the E.U. and North America. As always, Russia is the wild card in the global market. A manufacturing push for domestic Russian production is underway, indicating less raw material availabilty for export. Seafood imports into Russia have decreased by a MASSIVE 41 percent year-to-year. Russian raw material supply is critical for Chinese production, especially in light of the heightened import restrictions on Norwegian products to China. The Russian government is incentivising national production through quotas exchanged for fleet construction and investments into their logistics network. Russian companies could eventually control the entire value chain, from fishing to exporting. As a Net Importer of food, Russia's domestic market growth will have SIGNIFICANT impacts worldwide. ---Our TradexLIVE offer of the week is for 6oz and 8oz IVP Atlantic Salmon Portions. These are #1 Quality, Boneless, Skinless, and are available in Miami for $5.15 / LB for 6s and $5.20 / KB for the 8s. Click or tap the icon to view this offer. --- One of the most promdominent outcomes from the Russian wild card is the shift in the Atlantic Salmon market. After the Russian Embargo on Western countries, Norwegian exports to Russia on fish and seafood suffered by $1.2 billion in 2014. Looking Year-to-Year at farmed salmon in the USA, imports from Norway on Fresh Farmed Salmon Fillets increased by 40 percent to 26 million lbs. Of course we can't talk about Farmed Salmon without talking about Chile too. Chile exports nearly 160 million pounds of fresh farmed atlantic salmon fillets to the USA every year. Earlier this summer, Costco discontinued carrying Chilean salmon due to antibiotic concerns - The Wholesaler switched over to Norwegian products, likely contributing to the import influx. Increased supply has caused prices on farmed fillets and portions to drop by as much as 25 percent. Current pricing in Seattle for 1-3lb IQF fillets is $2.90 / LB, and $5.60 / LB for 8oz IQF Portions. Ocean Run IQF atlantic Salmon fillets have hovered in around the $2.80 mark for the past couple of months. Some analysts at the Pacific Marine Expo estimated a 38 percent drop in wholesale prices on Chilean Salmon in the past year and a half. The US Salmonex Index, an indicator of Chilean farmed salmon prices, show Fresh D Trim Fillets at $3.19 / LB. Prices have dropped about a dollar per year for the past two consecutive years. At the core of all of these changes are the global dynamics WITH and reliance ON Russia. A stronger domestic market for Russia means a constrained supply worldwide for seafood processors. ----Thank you for joining me for the Tradex Foods "3-Minute Market Insight" This is Robert Reierson - “BUY SMART” and “EAT MORE SEAFOOD

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