North American Crab Supply
Discussion of North America king crab harvest and supply are excluded from this article. Much of the Alaska king crab harvest is exported, while most of the snow crab and Dungeness crab caught in North America goes to the domestic food service sector and is consumed in restaurants. We have excluded king crab in the interest of simplifying discussion of crab supply most pertinent to the domestic market.
Alaska is a relatively minor supplier in the context of total North America crab harvests. The two largest North American crab fisheries are Canadian snow crab and the Dungeness crab fishery of the West-coast states, Washington, Oregon and California. Combined volume from those fisheries accounted for an average 89 percent of the North American crab harvest in 2005 and 2006.
While both of those major crab fisheries have been at or near historical peak production in recent years, 2007 harvest and quotas fell substantially. West Coast Dungeness harvest dropped 56 percent, from 91 million pounds in 2005 to 40 million in 2007. Canadian snow crab quotas dropped 20 percent, from 210 million pounds in 2005 to 168 million pounds in 2007.
The total North American supply of snow crab, Tanner crab and Dungeness crab has declined 21 percent in two years, from 333 million pounds in 2005 to 250 million pounds in 2007.
Peak production from the major crab fisheries in recent years has created new demand for crab and as harvest volume in those fisheries falls to more typical levels, it leaves a significant amount of unmet demand. The diminished supply of crab is reflected in rising prices for crab products in 2007.
October 2007 FOB wholesale prices for frozen Dungeness clusters are in the $6 per pound range, up from the low $4 range a year ago. Similarly, FOB wholesale prices for frozen Canadian snow crab clusters are in the $5 range, up from $4 a year ago.
West Coast ex-vessel prices for Dungeness crab increased from an average of $1.66 in 2006 to $2.13 in 2007. Average ex-vessel price in Alaska���s summer Dungeness fishery was $2.11, up 64 cents from 2006. Current prices in the ongoing Fall Dungeness fishery are in the $2.25 range.
