--- The 2017 Alaska Chum Salmon forecast was for 16.7 million fish and landings have exceeded this by 32 percent. 22 million fish have been landed as of the first week of September and there is still plently of fishing left. So why are the price of Chums still so high? One reason for the higher pricing is the increased labour cost in Alaska. The tightening of work visas in the US by the Trump Administration are contributing to higher operating cost for boats and processors. Limiting work visas have put a strain on the hiring pool and the average hourly wages to workers are higher as well. --- Moving onto the Puget Sound, Columbia River and the Canadian Chum fisheries. There is speculation that landings will be big this year. We are hearing that chums are already jumping in large volumes in Barkely Sound and we've also heard there are a lot of chums in the waters in the straits. Majority of the Chums will be coming from the fall runs and if fisheries regulators open up these fisheries we expect pricing to remain high as well. --- Our advice is to buy now but to spread out your purchasing on Chums. Large Chum buyers typically wait until the Canadian fishery starts up before issuing PO's but if you decide to start purchasing then, you may be too late. Large buyers have the ability to corner the market by offering more money than where the market is at. If this happens, all the supply will go to these big buyers leaving the market with no fish and possibly even higher prices. --- Finally, our TradexLIVE offer of the week is for 2LB+ Chum Salmon Fillets. These are #1 quality, Good Meat Color, 2017 product of Canada, available in Vancouver at $4.30/lb USD. This is a great quality product from Canada at a very sharp price. Click or tap the icon above to view this offer. ----Thank you for joining me for the Tradex Foods "3-Minute Market Insight" This is Rob Reierson - “BUY SMART” and “EAT MORE SEAFOOD"

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