Prices skyrocket for Gulf Coast seafood
Shipping, packaging costs correlate with rise
Anyone who has been out to dinner or gone shopping for a shrimp boil lately might have noticed the prices of seafood are considerably higher than usual.
Some restaurants have even dropped the more costly and hard-to-find items from menus, even in coastal states such as Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama, where seafood typically is plentiful.
Grocery stores and seafood markets still offer a variety of seafood, but with costs soaring, fewer options and lower quantities are kept in stock.
Susan Perkins, director of the Mississippi Gulf Coast Restaurant Association, said seafood prices are going up as the cost of shipping, packaging and other incidentals rise.
“You try to buy local, that helps minimize transportation and packaging costs associated with that,” Perkins said. “Packaging costs are going up and if you combine that with the labor shortage and it is just inevitable that seafood prices have to go up.”
Some restaurants are trying to minimize expenses and absorb some of the extra costs, but they’re having to raise prices to make a profit. Some have pared down menus to cut costs “so they can still offer value and quality to their customer,” Perkins said.
“Hopefully the supply chain shortages will begin to improve,” Perkins said.
Carmen Ford, owner and chef at Gratefull Soul in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, said catfish prices have not risen as much as other seafood, but she has had problems getting it for her Friday fish plates.
Lump blue crabmeat cost roughly $17 to $20 a pound retail in 2021.
This year, the cost shot up to about $45 a pound and even higher in some areas. That’s pricing home cooks out of the market, too.
In addition to labor and supply chain issues, the coronavirus pandemic contributed to price increases during the last two years.
“My business has been doing fine. We’ve been able to absorb the higher fuel costs and our sales have actually picked up since the pandemic, but with the price of fuel to operate these boats, I’m not sure we are going to be able to overcome that.” Lance Nacio, of Anna Marie Seafood in Montegut, La.
Hurricanes in 2020 and 2021 left many fishing vessels high and dry and operators’ homes in shambles.
A study by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, Louisiana State University and Louisiana Sea Grant analyzed losses to infrastructure, including boats, seafood sales and stocks. It also projected financial losses from the past two hurricane seasons that are continuing into 2022. The estimated damage: $579 million.
Although the immediate effect of the hurricanes is costly, it’s still too early to tell what the full impact of the hurricanes will be, said Ben Posadas, associate research professor of agricultural and seafood economics at Mississippi State University.
Louisiana is the biggest producer of blue crab in the nation, with an average of 40 million pounds or more annually. Mississippi produces about 1.7 million pounds a year.
Lance Nacio of Anna Marie Seafood in Montegut, Louisiana, said his vessels were spared from recent storms, so he wasn’t much affected, but the cost to operate his business has steadily increased
during the past year.
Nacio has been able to keep his prices level until now. In Louisiana, gas prices have reached $4.50 a gallon, and if they stay that way, Nacio isn’t sure he can stay in business.
“My business has been doing fine,” he said. “We’ve been able to absorb the higher fuel costs and our sales have actually picked up since the pandemic, but with the price of fuel to operate these boats, I’m not sure we are going to be able to overcome that.”
Seafood prices started to stabilize in early March after skyrocketing in January, but with gas prices doubling and in some instances tripling from a year ago, some vendors are starting to wonder what will happen next.
“I feel there is going to be a point when the customers are gonna say we can’t afford it anymore,” Nacio said. “Everyone is being strained in every way.”
US Foods’ weekly report on seafood showed trends based on information provided by suppliers and market data from Umer Barry.
The most recent report was based on data submitted reported as of March 8 – two weeks after Russia invaded Ukraine, causing gas prices to spike. Some prices are expected to rise in March, including large brown-and-white shrimp and Atlantic farmed salmon. Other prices are expected to remain stable, but quantities are in low supply, including domestic catfish, sea scallops and yellowfin tuna.
“Right now, there’s so much uncertainty with fuel, we’re not sure what’s going to take place,” Nacio said. “It’s kinda grim looking. We always figured out a way. Years ago we had some high fuel prices, but not this high.”