There’s little room in the market for this year’s projected flood of red salmon, which could lead to a drop in sockeye prices.
Managers expect a harvest of 221 million salmon this year, excluding kings. Last year the figure was closer to 158 million.
Laine Welch of Fish Radio reports that the strong U.S. dollar is also making it difficult to sell Alaskan fish to international fish lovers…
Alaska’s regional catch projections for this summer are up across the board. A quick breakdown by the McDowell Group shows a whopping 59 million sockeye salmon catch is set to come out of Alaska this summer – the largest since 1995.
That’s on top of last year’s big take of 44 million reds, tons of which remain backlogged in freezers.
Pink landings are expected to top 140 million, 22 percent higher than last summer. Pinks are tough to predict and some speculate the runs and catches could be higher.
Chum salmon harvests are expected to rebound this year, topping 17 million. For coho salmon, a harvest of 4.6 million would be down nearly 2 million from last year.
In the “can there be too much of a good thing” category — Alaska will be facing a strong headwind when it comes to selling all that salmon this year.
Buffeting sales will be a strong US dollar that makes seafood more expensive for our foreign customers with devalued currencies; conversely, it makes imports to the US a far cheaper buy.
The Russian embargo against US seafood continues, taking a big bite out of Alaska pink salmon roe sales; and large holdovers of Alaska canned salmon remain in warehouses.