Low lobster demand puts fishermen in red (at 50% price of a halibut)

FT ^ | 01/01/01 | Bernard Simon

[TigerLikesRooster]

Low lobster demand puts fishermen in red

By Bernard Simon in Toronto

Published: January 1 2010 21:02 | Last updated: January 1 2010 21:02

At a time when prices for commodities such as tea, cocoa and sugar are soaring to their highest levels in years, lobster, a delicacy associated with luxury living, is selling at bargain prices.

Prices have sunk so far over the past two years that some mass-market restaurant chains have added lobster to their menus. Tennessee-based Ruby Tuesday, with about 850 outlets in the US, offers lobster tails, as well as lobster carbonara and lobster macaroni and cheese.

Hannaford Supermarkets, a New England chain in the heart of the US lobster industry, has the crustacean on special this week at $4.99 a pound, half the price of halibut.

[TigerLikesRooster]

Ping!

[phoenix07]

Guess I know what I’m making for dinner.......

[Born Conservative]

That explains the $5/lb. drop from last year at this time.

[Cvengr]

East Coast Lobster has been on sale in the CA desert for $5/lb, for the last 3 weeks.

Last year it ran as low as $1/lb.

West Coast lobster is hard to find at reasonable taste or size.

Anybody know the actual mechanics of the market driving these low prices, or has Guido been busy in New Jersey providing more feed for East Coast Lobsters the last 6 months?

[bvw]

Looks like http://Lobster.com is doing well.

[J Edgar]

WOW - I'm going to stock up now by mail order, and keep in the freezer - I love to make Fajitas with Lobster, beef and chicken.

[mylife]

In Maine this summer, I got a dozen 1lb~1 1/4lb lobsters and 5 lbs of clams for $60

Dinner was Yummy!

[J Edgar]

They probably market to the French!

[TexasFreeper2009]

I love shrimp and crave prawns, lobster though... I could do without.

[Ezekiel]

Looks like the bottom dropped out for the bottom-feeders. Congress, are you paying attention?

[Inyo-Mono]

In rural Mina, Nevada...

[MS.BEHAVIN]

LOL
I was just about to PING you to this thread!

[KoRn]

While the wholesale price may be declining, I don’t expect to see price reductions for Lobster on the menu at my favorite restaurants...

[canuck_conservative]

LOBSTER TAILS ARE NOT FROM LOBSTERS

.... they are a type of crayfish, marketed as “lobster tail” ... but definitely not a true lobster.

[mylife]

Yummy!

[mylife]

One thing I noticed at Hannafords was that catfish is expensive.

They give it away here.

[BunnySlippers]

Interesting. Halibut runs about $20.00 a pound in LA.

[MS.BEHAVIN]

For some reason, catfish has ALWAYS been expensive up here.
Maybe it doesn’t sell as well..?

[therut]

I was down in Grenada and a guy went diving and brought back 22 lobsters for 10.00 and a cook to cook them for me. I loved that place. Muuuummmmmmmm fresh banana daiquiri's !!!