Vol. 12, No.3 / Impacts of the Global Pandemic on Prices of Catfish Products In U.S. Domestic Markets

• In this issue, Dr. Posadas presents the nominal retail and wholesale prices of catfish products traded in the U.S. markets from January 2018 to January 2022.
• Mississippi produces more than one-half of the farm-raised North American catfish in the United States.
• This presentation compares nominal catfish prices by time period, type of product, size, market level, and country of origin.
• Fresh, smaller, and U.S. domestic South catfish fillets are sold at higher prices than frozen, bigger, and imported catfish fillets.
• Higher catfish prices were observed during the latter part of the pandemic.

Introduction

• Fresh and frozen seafood sales in the U.S. expanded during the pandemic period.
• Fresh seafood sales in 2021 rose 4% compared to 2020 and 30.8% versus 2019, reaching $7.1 billion.
• Frozen seafood sales in 2021 rose 2.8% compared to 2020 and 40.8% versus 2019, reach $7.2 billion.
• Source.

Methods

• Nominal prices are in $/lb. Not yet deflated.
• Time period covers before and during the Covid-19 pandemic, which started in March 2020.
• Catfish fillets include 3-5, 5-7, 7-9, and 9-11 oz. 
• Market levels include wholesale vs. retail.
• Country of origin includes USA, China, and Vietnam.
• Type of product is fresh or frozen.
• Source of raw price data: Urner Barry Comtell 

Catfish Products

• In this issue, catfish products included the following:
  • Catfish fillets: 3-5-oz, 5-7-oz, 7-9 oz, 9-11 oz.
  • Country of origin: Southern United States, China, and Vietnam.
  • Type of catfish products: fresh or frozen fillets.

• The source of retail prices of catfish fillets prices is Urner Barry Comtell.
• The nominal retail prices of catfish fillets were very volatile during the pandemic.
• The overall trend of the nominal catfish retail prices tends to be moving upwards but very erratic along the way.

• The source of wholesale prices of catfish fillets is Urner Barry Comtell.
• The average wholesale prices of 3-5 oz fresh and frozen catfish fillets were relatively flat before the pandemic.
• The average wholesale prices of 3-5 oz catfish fillets jumped to higher levels later during the pandemic.
• The average wholesale prices of fresh 3-5 oz catfish fillets were higher than the frozen 3-5 oz catfish fillets before the pandemic.
• However, later during the pandemic, frozen 3-5 oz catfish fillets became more expensive.

• The source of wholesale prices of catfish fillets is Urner Barry Comtell.
• Fresh 5-7 oz domestic catfish fillets were sold at higher prices than the frozen 5-7 oz fillets, except between Oct. 2019 and Sep. 2020.
• The price gap between fresh and frozen 5-7 oz fillets significantly contracted starting in Nov. 2020.

• The source of wholesale prices of catfish fillets is Urner Barry Comtell.
• Fresh 7-9 oz domestic catfish fillets were sold at higher prices than the frozen 7-9 oz fillets before and early pandemic.
• However, relative nominal wholesale prices of 7-9 oz fillets shifted starting in Mar. 2021.

• The source of wholesale prices of catfish fillets is Urner Barry Comtell.
• Fresh 9-11 oz domestic catfish fillets were sold at higher prices than the frozen 9-11 oz fillets before and during the pandemic.

• The source of wholesale prices of catfish fillets is Urner Barry Comtell.
• The nominal wholesale prices of domestic catfish fillets varied by fillet size.
• Smaller domestic catfish fillets tend to be more expensive than the larger domestic catfish fillets.
• Wholesale prices of domestic catfish fillets rose starting Feb. 2021, except the 5-7 oz fillets.

• The source of wholesale prices of catfish fillets is Urner Barry Comtell.
• The nominal wholesale prices of frozen 3-5 oz catfish fillets varied by country of origin.
• Catfish wholesale prices rose during the latter part of the pandemic.
• The increase in prices started at different months.
• Wholesale prices of domestic catfish fillets were higher than those coming from China and Vietnam.
• Wholesale prices of Vietnamese Swai fillets were the lowest.

• The source of wholesale prices of catfish fillets is Urner Barry Comtell.
• The nominal wholesale prices of frozen 5-7 oz catfish fillets varied by country of origin.
• Catfish wholesale prices rose during the latter part of the pandemic.
• The increase in prices started at different months.
• Wholesale prices of domestic catfish fillets were mostly higher than those coming from China and Vietnam.
• Wholesale prices of Vietnamese Swai fillets were the lowest.

• The source of wholesale prices of catfish fillets is Urner Barry Comtell.
• The nominal wholesale prices of frozen 7-9 oz catfish fillets varied by country of origin.
• Catfish wholesale prices rose during the latter part of the pandemic.
• The increase in prices started at different months.
• Wholesale prices of domestic catfish fillets were mostly higher than those coming from China and Vietnam.
• Wholesale prices of Vietnamese catfish fillets were the lowest.

• The source of wholesale prices of catfish fillets is Urner Barry Comtell.
• The nominal wholesale prices of frozen 9-11 oz catfish fillets varied by country of origin.
• Catfish wholesale prices rose during the latter part of the pandemic. The increase in prices started at different months.
• Wholesale prices of domestic catfish fillets were higher than those coming from China and Vietnam.
• Wholesale prices of Vietnamese catfish fillets were the lowest.

• The source of wholesale prices of catfish fillets is Urner Barry Comtell.
• The nominal wholesale prices of Vietnamese Swai fillets initially varied by fillet size.
• However, the nominal wholesale price unified as one price starting Oct. 2019.

• The source of wholesale prices of catfish fillets is Urner Barry Comtell.
• The nominal wholesale prices of Chinese catfish fillets varied by fillet size.
• There were only two wholesale prices for the large- and small-size catfish fillets from China.
• The nominal wholesale prices of 3-5, 5-7, and 7-9 oz fillets unified as one price during the entire period.
• The nominal wholesale prices of 9-11 oz catfish fillets were lower than the other three fillet sizes.

My Economic Outreach on Seafood Marketing and Prices