3MMI - Slow & Small Start to the Albacore Tuna Season

EP 395 | Aired 07/16/2018

Slow & Small Start to the Albacore Tuna Season

July 16, 2018 - Albacore Tuna fishing is underway on the West Coast in British Columbia, Washington, and Oregon. Many processors indicate fishing efforts are small...

2018 Alaska Salmon Commercial Harvest Counter
(Harvest in thousands of fish)
Tradex 2018 Alaska Salmon Commercial Harvest Counter
Updated: MON JUL 16 2018 12:01AM (View Previous Weeks Totals)

and the landings have been very slow.

We spoke to a Port Biologist with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife who confirmed the slow landings.

Our source cited windy weather as the main indicator of slow landings but that large volumes should be harvested in the next few days.

To date, 600,000 lbs of Albacore Tuna have landed in Oregon Port statewide.

This comes after a slow year last year only harvested 4.7 million pounds of Albacore, compared to over 7 million pounds the previous two years.

Local processors we spoke to indicated that albacore is currently landing small - under 13 pounds in the round - which can create safety concerns while processing with a bandsaw.

--- Most landings will fit in to the 9-15lb grade, where pricing is at $3.70/lb in the Seattle market.

<< This Week's 3-Minute Market Insight is brought to you by TradexLIVE - the World's Seafood Marketplace. Go to live.tradexfoods.com to find your seafood today. >>

This is up about ten cents from pricing earlier in the year.

15lb ups are also around $3.70/lb in small quantities, down about 10 cents from earlier in the year.

For value added products, current production of sashimi grade Albacore tuna loins is in the range of $9.90 to 9.95 per pound.

There is still a few months of targeted fishing for the highly migratory species, so with weather improving we should see better landings as well as larger fish, which should help prices settle.

--- To wrap this episode up, our TradexLIVE offer of the week is for SINBAD Pollock Fillets.

We have 6,000 lbs of 4-6oz IQF Pollock fillets in our 100% Net Weight guaranteed SINBAD brand available in Jacksonville at $1.35/lb.

SINBAD is Tradex Food's Value Added, "Value Priced", Premium Quality, Produced in Asia brand and is backed by 100% Net Weight Guarantee.

Call your sales rep for more information.

TradexLIVE Offer Of The Week

If you have a topic you'd like to hear on upcoming 3-Minute Market Insights tweet us @TradexFoods or suggest a topic through YouTube or Facebook