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Maine lobsters. (Photo: J. Gnagey/Copyright FIS)
Higher exports of live lobsters to Asia offset fall in sales to Europe
UNITED STATES
Monday, February 19, 2018, 23:10 (GMT + 9)
Two thirds of the live lobsters that the United States exported last year went to Asia, a percentage that reflects a growth of 36 percent year-on-year.
The growth in the Asian market helped the Maine lobster sector - which contributes 83 percent of the US lobster catches - to compensate for the drop in sales to Europe, a market that in 2017 reduced its purchases by USD 40.3 millions, according to WISERTrade.org. This fall was mainly due to the increase of Canada's cheaper exports to the EU, due to its bilateral free trade agreement.
One of the US companies which was benefited with the Asian market growth was Maine Coast. This company, created in 2011, grew from selling 1 million pound of live lobster the first year, to selling 7 million pounds, with around 40 percent going to Asia, reported The Press Herald.
According to Jeff Bennett, a seafood trade specialist at the Maine International Trade Center in Portland, without taking into account sales to Canada, U.S. and Maine exports of live lobster were up in 2017. China was the main destination, with purchases of USD 128.7 million, 53 percent more than in the previous year.
Although Canada’s Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) weakened the Maine lobster exports to Europe, Tom Adams, Maine Coast founder, believes that the European demand for lobster began to decrease before CETA was implemented.
Among the factors that provoked this decline , the entepreneur remembers the fact that Sweden proposed to consider American lobster an invasive species and ban its import.
Another reason was the decision to ban the practice of boiling lobsters alive, which also accounts for the decline, on Adam´s opinion.
Looking ahead, Maine lobster dealers and scientists are trying to improve the shipping survival rate of Maine’s softer summer catch.
Ready Seafood Co., based in Portland, received a USD 2.25 million grant from the Maine Technology Asset Fund to build a facility to research and test ways to improve the hardiness of lobsters for shipping.
The company is already collaborating with the University of Maine to see if it can speed up the shell-hardening process of recently molted lobsters.
The grant will help to compensate the USD 6 million cost of the entire project.
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