Why the spread of the coronavirus means cheaper lobster prices
The coronavirus has led to travel bans and quarantines around the world, impacting every part of daily life for millions of people. So what does lobster have to do with it?
Market prices for lobster have been dropping as the virus spreads and they’re now at the lowest level in four years, Bloomberg News reports.
The virus shut down most travel around China just as people there were planning annual Chinese New Year festivities, when lobster sales would be booming in a typical year, according to Bloomberg.
Lobster shipments to China plummeted starting more than a month ago, according to KCBS in Los Angeles. Some in the Los Angeles lobster industry stopped fishing because the prices for spiny lobster were so low, the station reports.
“It just killed the market,” said Scott Breneman, whose family owns the Dory Fishing Fleet Market. “(The) Chinese restaurants I deal with … price just cut in half. And a lot of the fishermen felt it wasn’t worth it and almost kind of went on strike.”
The pressures on lobster sellers haven’t let up. The crustaceans are normally flown on charter flights to Asia, but those have dropped as governments have restricted travel to China, Bloomberg reports.
“The fallout has left thousands of pounds of unsold lobster flooding North American markets,” according to the news service.
The American lobster industry already had been hit by the trade war with China, which put steep tariffs on crustaceans from the United States last year, The Bangor Daily News reports. The newspaper reported recently that China agreed to lower import tariffs on lobster and other foods from the U.S.
Lobster is not the only thing the Maine fishing industry is worried about. Another important export for the state to China: baby eels.
“The vast majority of baby eels, also known as glass eels or elvers, that are caught in Maine are shipped live to eastern Asia, with most going to China, where they are grown to market size in aquaculture ponds,” the Daily News reports.
This story was originally published March 6, 2020 at 11:44 AM with the headline "Why the spread of the coronavirus means cheaper lobster prices."
