Canned Salmon Sales and Price
For ease of discussion, all can sizes are converted to a single measure: 48-tall case equivalent. The 48-tall case equivalent captures production and sales volume of all four standard can sizes for canned pink and canned sockeye.
Discussion of canned salmon sales and price follows the “sales season” which begins in September of the harvest year and ends in August of the following year. This is consistent with the production season for canned salmon and with reporting periods for the Alaska Salmon Price Report. The 2007 sales season began September 1, 2007 and will end August 31, 2008.
The May-August 2007 ASPR completes the canned salmon data set for the 2006 sales season.
Canned Sockeye Sales & Price
Canned sockeye sales volume has remained steady over the last four sales seasons, between 1.07 million and 1.29 million cases. Sales volume from the 2006 sales season falls in the mid-point of that range at 1.11 million 48-tall case equivalent.
Average first wholesale case price per 48-half case dipped to $59 in the first four months of the sales season but recovered to the $62 - $63 range through January – August.
Average case price per 48-tall rose throughout the sales season, from $94 during September – December to $102 by August. Tall-can sales volume was light for the May – August period, only 60,000 cases.
Two-thirds of canned sockeye sales volume (65 percent) was in half-pound (7.5-ounce) cans and 32 percent in tall (14.75-ounce) cans.
Canned Pink Sales & Price
Canned pink sales volume dropped sharply in the 2006 sales season, to 1,990,000 48-tall case equivalent. This is 1.2 million cases (38 percent) below the previous five years’ average sales volume of 3.2 million cases.
The sharp decline in sales volume was driven partly by supply (September 2006 inventory was only 2.4 million cases) but also by a substantial recovery in wholesale price. Average 48-tall case price was in the $57 range from January – August, a 14-year high point.
The canned pink market is price sensitive and the strong prices of the 2006 sales season dampened sales volume. This is reflected in wholesale case volumes and in U.S. retail sales activity. Average canned pink retail price briefly exceeded $2 per can in July and August, for the first time since 1993. However, sales volume dropped considerably, from the 10-year July/August average of 145,000 cases to just 89,000 cases during July and August 2007. (source: AC Nielsen)
