April 28, 2013
thechronicleherald.ca/business/1126065-lobster-prices-up-sharply
Stormy seas in March drove Atlantic Canadian lobster prices sky-high, according to Scotiabank’s commodity price index released Monday.
The wholesale price at auction in Boston last month was US$9.97 per pound. That is the second-highest price recorded since the bank started tracking Atlantic Canadian lobster prices in January 1972. The record occurred in April 2007 at US$12.54 per pound.
“The reason turns out to be that the weather was quite stormy in the Atlantic in March and it kept fishing vessels from going fishing, essentially,” said Patricia Mohr, Scotiabank’s vice-president of economics and commodity market specialist.
“So the supplies tightened enormously.”
The tasty crustaceans bumped the bank’s agricultural index up by 0.7 per cent.
That is “very unusual,” Mohr said.
Wholesale lobster prices at auction in Boston were US$6.61 a pound in February, up from January’s prices, she said.
“The reason for the gain in February is often that Valentine’s Day falls in February,” Mohr said. “So (men) go to the restaurant and take their wife or girlfriend for a treat of lobster.”
Lumber prices also continued to rise in March, she said.
“This is because of the beginning of a recovery in U.S. housing starts after about five years of very poor construction activity,” Mohr said.
“The prices suddenly have shot up, not quite to record highs, but very high levels, because of the shutdown of many mills across Canada and the United States during the prolonged downturn. So the market has suddenly tightened.”
Lumber prices are expected to fall back again in April, she said.
“There’s been some inventory build in the United States,” Mohr said. “But I wouldn’t be too concerned about it because I expect the prices to move back up in the summer and move irregularly higher for at least another year and a half.”
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