Sky-high lobster prices over the past several months appear to have abated in Canada, both at the shore and in the market.
The price has dropped steeply enough that it’s garnered wider media attention, with reports saying the price of lobster has suffered its largest drop in years. The Fish, Food & Allied Workers Union in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada reported the average market price went from USD 10.50 (EUR 9.81) per pound in mid-April to USD 8.22 (EUR 7.68) in late May.
However, the price dips are nothing new, Cozy Harbor Co-Founder and President John Norton told SeafoodSource.
“I’ve been seeing stories about the price has dropped in half, and it’s in freefall, and I think that’s an inaccurate representation of what’s going on with boat price here in Maine, for example, and to a certain extent Canada as well,” Norton said.
Portland, Maine, U.S.A.-based Cozy Harbor specializes in fresh and frozen lobster tails, and Norton has been in the lobster processing business since 1993 – and the industry itself for longer than that.
The latest price shift, he said, is a “normal adjustment.”
The price of lobster has fallen significantly, but that was coming off of a period of record-high prices on the back of relatively low inventory, Norton said. Prices over the winter were some of the highest he’d seen in a decade, for a combination of reasons.