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November 22, 2011

 

November 22, 2011

*We have special hours for Thanksgiving and special cut-offs are scheduled for this week. We will be open Friday and Saturday for deliveries; please contact your sales representative for the special cut-off times.

WE ALSO HAVE A COUPLE OF WEEKEND SPECIALS FOR THIS SHORT WEEK

                                    FRESH NANTUCKET BAY SCALLOPS @ $21.99/lb

Skin/on Corvina Fillets @ $8.59/lb    |   skin/off @ $9.45   |    portions @ $10.95/lb

We want to wish everybody a Happy Thanksgiving and hopefully things will get back to normal as far as seafood for the end of November and the month of December.

Our forecasts, which are subject to change depending on the latest government regulations and weather incidents, are that Swordfish will be tight due to seasonal closures and poor catches from the South and Central America. Maybe it will change as the weeks go on. There is hope for a Hawaiian Swordfish season in the Western Pacific that would give us a good source of high-quality Swordfish but it remains to be seen whether the government agencies and the NGO partners are going to allow the boats to fish.

There seems to be a lot of Tuna in Central and South America close to shore.  So Tuna, at least number 2 quality Tuna, will be down for the month of December from the highs of the last couple of months. High-quality Tuna will probably go to the highest bidder and the bidding for high-quality Tuna is now up dramatically because of demand in Asia for sushi-grade fish.  There will be plenty of good number 2 which is perfect for all sorts of recipes that require any type of cooking.

Flounder is finally starting to be landed in Virginia and North Carolina and there are decent quotas at least for the first part of December. Prices are coming down and if the weather will hold, will stay down and possibly even fall.

The same is true for Striped Bass.  The fish are there and it’s just a matter of fishermen getting out and whether they have enough tags to go out and actualize the fish that are now abundant in the water.

Grouper will be tight for most of the month. In Mexico record high Octopus prices mean that they will be fishing for Octopus instead of Grouper.  In the U.S. a lot of boats are out of Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ) even though the total catch limit has not been reached on Red Grouper.  So the guess here is that Grouper will be tight most of the month and expensive.

We’re seeing a good run of Corvina which interestingly enough comes closer to shore during wetter weather in Central and South America. The forecast has changed recently and now there looks like there is another La Nina developing in Central America which means that we will have a repeat of last year where you will see some Tuna, Corvina and very little Snapper, Grouper and Mahi Mahi.   Mahi will not be as plentiful as usual but there will be some good landings and prices will come down over time. But the frozen market is so strong in the U.S. and overseas that we won’t see the lows that we have in the past for Mahi.

Quotas are almost over for Scallops and prices are going up. The initial forecasts on Lobster are good and the prices are very reasonable. We expect them to stay reasonable for the first couple of weeks of December and then go up as Christmas and New Year’s approach.  A lot depends on the European economy and the dollar/euro valuation as things in Europe, as the headlines are noting, are not robust. That may put a damper on overseas demand for Live Lobsters so that could lead to a more moderate price through Christmas and New Year. Time will tell about that.

We have good inventories of Lobster Tails and are very competitive on Maine-produced, nitrogen-frozen Lobster Tails. We stress this because with nitrogen-frozen Lobster Tails the meat is whiter, you have less sticking to the shell, and in addition the meat is cleaner and sweeter tasting and is not nearly as chewy as a brine-frozen Canadian Lobster Tail.

Also, because of the brine freezing process, around 4-6% water is incorporated into the Lobster Tail. If you take a 4-5oz Maine tail that is produced with nitrogen freezing and compare it to one that is done in Canada under brine freezing you will probably get 1-2 more Tails per 10 lb case. So really if the price is slightly higher on a nitrogen-frozen product you are getting:

                  1) a better, more flavorful lobster tail
                  2) a more usable weight in the tail

We should have some availability of Fresh Lobster Jumbo Lump through December; prices may go back up it just depends on the catch.  We do have an inventory of Frozen Jumbo Lobster Lump for those who have become addicted to this great item.

Crab Meat in general usually goes up at this time of year.  This will probably be the case for Imported Pasteurized Crab Meat.  Snow Crab prices remain steady while King Crab is actually through the roof and at record highs.

We are still getting some Shrimp and if the weather stays moderate we should have Fresh Shrimp from the Gulf and the East Coast of the United States, for at least the first two weeks of December and hopefully beyond.  Frozen prices are inching up on Domestically-produced White Shrimp and also those coming out of Mexico. If you can, now is the time to make some buys as we have some features for the next week or so.

The All-Natural and Commodity Beef, Pork, and Veal market prices are skyrocketing.  We anticipate the strongest prices that we have ever seen. One piece of good news is that we have locked in prices with the good folks at Eden Farms until the end of the year so those prices will not change. Therefore, the Eden Farm All-Natural Pork may be a great item to use in the month of December to shift attention away from the higher Beef and Veal prices.

We are officially out of Turkeys now but we have good deals on Eden Farms Honey-glazed Spiral-sliced & Black Forest Hams for those who want to do an unusual Thanksgiving.

We’re back in stock with the famous Jurgielewicz Farms for their Fresh All-natural Ducks and we’ll have plenty of supply this season.

In addition, we have a good selection of Frozen Wild Game on hand as well as Fresh Lamb and Frozen New Zealand Lamb for the holidays.

We have lots of Appetizers in stock and we are actually making deals for the holidays to move some inventory.  Please check with your salesperson about these items.

All of us at Inland Seafood would like to wish you a Healthy, Successful and Happy Thanksgiving!