Posted at 4:00 p.m.
Where are the huge profits of seafood wholesalers going? Or the difference between the price paid to fishermen and the price charged to consumers, for example for crab and lobster?
Lucette Durand
“It’s never easy to say who is pocketing the profits,” immediately replies Jean Côté, biologist and scientific director of the Association of Professional Fishermen of Southern Gaspésie. There are cases where there are no “staggering profits”, he insists.
For example, Mr. Côté recalls that at the start of the lobster fishing season, the fisherman received $8 per pound for his catch and his displayed price in the supermarket was $8.77.
“There are many different cases. It’s never black or white,” he adds. A point of view shared by Gabriel Bourgault-Faucher, researcher at the Institute for Research in Contemporary Economics (IRÉC).
“I am not in the secret of the gods. I don’t know the margins of all the intermediaries in the supply chains, he admits. But there is a bias in this question. It is assumed that the wholesalers make huge profits. But wholesalers do not always touch fish and seafood. There are fishermen who sell directly to restaurants or processors. »
Yes, there are profits all along the chain, which is normal. Are there really some links that stick more than others in the pockets? We don’t have the data to answer it.
Gabriel Bourgault-Faucher, researcher at the Institute for Research in Contemporary Economics
“It’s hard for me to say who is filling their pockets. It’s not us, ”says Marc-Antoine Fortier, owner of Pêcheries Océanic, a fish importing company. “The margins remain the same. Everything costs more. »
He recalls in particular the explosion of container prices. Before the pandemic, Mr. Fortier paid US$7,000 to $8,000 for a refrigerated container. Today, he has to shell out US$30,000.
Price difference
Why is there a difference in price between what is paid to the fisherman and that displayed at the fishmonger’s and the grocery store? “It comes from the fact that there are several intermediaries who, at each stage, have their operating costs,” underlines Mr. Bourgault-Faucher.
The fisherman must maintain his boat and pay his fisherman’s helpers. Processors must also pay their employees, maintain their building and pay fixed costs. And on top of that come the shipping costs.
Supply and demand
Supply and demand obviously play into the equation, as in the case of snow crab, the price of which peaked at the start of the season which began in March. The Press reported that the first arrivals had sold for more than $38 per pound for cooked crab in Montreal, compared to $26 last year.
“Its price is fixed on the international markets. The crab is mainly sold in the United States,” explains Gabriel Bourgault-Faucher, who adds that 70% of the crab caught in Quebec is shipped to our neighbors to the south.
Inflation, the price of fuel and the absence of crabs from Russia, a major exporter, have affected the price paid by amateurs.
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