The success of burger and lobster restaurants has heightened demand for the crustacean © AFP
Lobster, which has become an affordable luxury over the past few years, may become more expensive as wholesale prices have hit the highest levels in a decade thanks to the rise of burger and lobster chains.
The demand for the crustacean comes as the success of burger and lobster restaurants have spurred popularity in the lobster roll, which along with the pork bun, has become a hipster favourite.
In London, Burger & Lobster, which was launched in 2011, has been a pioneer in the genre and has expanded to other cities around the world. Its concept of serving a pared down menu of burgers and lobsters at affordable prices has been embraced among restaurateurs in other cities around the world.
“The lobster roll ‘phenomenon’ has created excess demand for lobster meat,” said Michael Tourkistas, chief executive of East Coast Seafoods, a leading US seafood trading firm based in Massachusetts.
The lobster roll is not new, especially in the US, but “it was a traditional thing, eaten when people visited New England, for example,” added Mr Tourkistas, with the concept spreading from fine dining restaurants to food trucks around the US.
Lobster prices are now at an 11-year high, with wholesale prices at $6 a pound, according to Urner Barry, the US data group.
“Strong demand and tight supplies are pushing prices higher, especially for lobster meat,” said Audun Lem at the UN Food and Agricultural Organization.
The shift of lobster’s position in the seafood market from a costly delicacy to a popular seafood is partly because of a crisis that gripped the US lobster industry.
Demand plummeted after the financial crisis in 2008 while on the supply side, warm waters led to a glut of the crustacean in Maine, on the east coast of the US. The lobster market fell to historical lows, with wholesale prices hitting $3.70 in 2009.
$6
Price per pound, an 11-year high, according to Urner Barry, the US data group
The fall in prices brought in new demand, with Asia becoming one of the growing markets alongside the popularity in lobster rolls among hipsters in western markets. Lobster has also made an appearance at discount retail chains, with Lidl offering frozen lobster to shoppers in the UK at £5 a crustacean.
The rising popularity has meant that the continuing rise in supply, especially in North America, has failed to dent the price. Last year’s “landings” or catches arriving at ports are estimated to have risen 80 per cent to 360m pounds from 2005 and almost 60 per cent from 2009, when wholesale prices plummeted, according to East Coast Seafoods.
Global imports increased about 7 per cent in the first quarter of this year to 29,100 tonnes from the same period in 2015, with imports to the EU rising 20 per cent. Although demand in China has fallen because of slowing economic growth, other Asian markets such as Korea, Japan and Thailand were increasing their imports, according to the FAO.
http://ift.tt/2dHQvXf
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar