A year after this was originally posted, lobster is more expensive than ever.
Today’s blog is from our SafeSourcing Inc. Archives
As the nation moves past the coronavirus pandemic, lobster is more expensive than usual. Due to a limited supply, high demand and the reopening of the economy, tourists are headed back to seafood restaurants and lobster markets for the first time in months. Some stores charged $17 or $18 per pound for live lobster in May, and that was about twice the price a year ago. In June, pricing is $13 or $14 per pound. The wholesale price for live, 1.25-pound lobsters in the New England market was $9.01 per pound on May 1, business publisher Urner Barry reported. That was about $2.70 per pound more than the previous May 1, and the highest price for that date in at least five years, the company reported.
Customers are looking to get back out to restaurants, and that high-end seafood is in high demand, said John Sackton, an industry analyst and founder of SeafoodNews.com.
Some factors influencing the high prices include a lack of available inventory and what appears to be a slow start to the fishing season. New England’s busiest lobster fishing season takes place in summer, and many harvesters are just starting to get their traps into the water.
U.S. lobster fishing is based primarily in Maine, though many lobsters also come ashore in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New Hampshire. Fishermen managed to have a productive season in 2020 despite the economic damage caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Fishermen in Maine brought more than 96 million pounds of lobsters to the docks, and while that was the lowest total since 2010, it was still much more than they typically caught in the 1990s.
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References
Patrick Whittle, Associated Press, June 8, 2021, 1:29
