Lobster prices pinch pockets as demand soars

Lobster is a summer staple in New England, but a recent rise in prices may give even the most devoted lobster lovers pause.

As the country reopens post-pandemic, increased demand for lobster and a squeezed supply caused by a state ban on lobstering to protect right whales has resulted in a price spike of about 60% per live lobster.

“If there’s no lobsters coming in, then the demand isn’t being met. Those are the cards,” said South Shore Lobsterman Association President John Haverland.

According to business publisher Urner Barry, the retail price of a live, one-and-a-half-pound lobster increased from $5.47 a year ago to $9.05 on June 7 this year. The prices have reached nowhere near this year’s since at least 2018.

Massachusetts imposed a ban on lobstering in waters north and east of Cape Cod to protect the endangered North Atlantic right whale from early March until May 14.

The ban limited the the number of lobsters available, increasing the price at each step in the supply chain from ocean to plate. By the time a lobster reaches a consumer, it may have changed hands at least four times, according to Beth Casoni, president of the Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association.

Both Casoni and Haverland said that lobster price inflation due to the pandemic tracks with other industry price hikes.

Lumber prices notably spiked as the economy gained steam, increasing the cost of new homes, for example. Lobstermen faced another set of increases, as the cost of boat fuel, bait and traps all have climbed, Haverland said.

Add to that a sudden hunger for lobster as the country reopens from the pandemic and there is a “built-up demand” that didn’t exist last year, he said.

Consumers have already begun to notice the price hike at the counter.

At one of Boston’s most popular lobster roll joints, Pauli’s North End, lobster rolls have increased from $19.99 to $21.99 this year. Restaurant owner and chef Paul Barker said this is the, “first price change in the last six, seven years,” for the lobster roll at Pauli’s.

Barker said he’s seen a 100% price jump for cooked lobster meat, but is doing his best not to foist those costs onto customers.

He added that lobster rolls at today’s prices are barely breaking even. “We’re trying to keep our customers happy,” he said. “At some point, if they continue to rise, I think the consumer market is going to say ‘no.’ ”

Barker said despite the price pressures, it’s a positive overall.

“We’re lucky,” he said, ”we’re still here, we’re still making lobster rolls.”

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3x7IY77