The Prince Edward Island (P.E.I).’s lobster wharf prices for the fourth week of June 2024 are down to $6.50 ($4.75) a pound maximum. This is despite catches on the Atlantic Coast of Canada being at their best yet, near the season’s close.
In a CTV report of June 23, 2024, fishermen decried of prices being as low as $6.25 ($4.56) per pound.
This situation recalls that of the peak season in 2021 when prices plummeted from C$9 ($6.57) to C$6.50 ($4.75) a pound.
For 2024, the price department also started high at C$9.25 ($6.75) a pound at the April 21-27 season’s starter. Then there was a subsequent delay in the P.E.I. lobster season due to stormy seas. By the time it all got underway, P.EI. fishermen found the price at a maximum C$7 ($5.11) around May 3, 2024.
This means that the wharf price has shed between C$.025 ($0.18) and C$.050 ($0.36) from early May to mid-June.
Fittingly, as the season progresses, the Fish, Food and Allied Workers Union (FFAW) of Canada also alters the minimum prices downward. For instance, the minimum price in spring was C$9.27 ($6.78), which by the June 9-15 week had dropped to $5.86 ($4.28) a pound.
However, the average rather than minimum FFAW price has always been in the C$8 ($5.84) a pound territory. This median started at C$12.65 ($9.23) in the April 21-27 opener and was at $8.38 in the June 9-15 week.
This implies that P.E.I.’s lobster fisheries have not yet seen the worst of the price curve yet, theoretically speaking.
P.E.I’s Lobster Season at a Production High
Yet, the Atlantic province has caught an overwhelming lobster volume. According to Nat Richard, the Lobster Processors Association’s executive director, 2024 could go down as the “largest catch year ever in Canada” .
Richard added that most fishermen sell their lobster through marketing associations, which then market them to processors.
In short, as the P.E.I. lobster season nears its summer close, it is all about high volumes and low wharf prices. Tellingly, with such ample supplies, Canada’s lobster sector still leads world production as the statistics below show.
Canada Lobster Statistics
Canada is the global leader in prepared or preserved lobster exports, at US$351 million in 2022. Five years earlier in 2018, the country also led world exports for prepared or preserved lobster at U$254.26 million or 8,182,860 tonnes. The United States is Canada’s unique market and receives 78% of lobster exports from Canada.
Does Canada import lobster?
Canada is a net lobster importer despite topping global exports of prepared/preserved lobster. In 2022, the North American nation ranked 2nd after the United States in prepared or preserved lobster imports, worth US$7.4 million.
Which are the export segments of Canada’s lobster?
Canada exports lobster either as fresh, frozen or preserved export segment. Frozen lobsters were the second biggest seafood export in 2021 at C$1.3539 billion ($988.42 million) after frozen crabs. Fresh or live lobsters, on the other hand, came third at C$1.239 billion ($904.47 million). Prepared lobsters came fifth at C$668.4 million ($487.932 million) after Atlantic salmon and danube salmon.
Which are the key lobster fisheries in Canada?
Canada has over 45 lobster fisheries, including the Northwest Atlantic Coast (such as P.E.I.), and Quebec. The main lobster species is Homarus americanus.