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US buyers are struggling with the record-high Moroccan octopus prices and are threatening to look for other alternatives, sources close to the file told Under Current News, a British online newspaper reporting seafood business news. Smaller market players have been coping with the skyrocketing prices of octopus, coming from Morocco, and they were forced to leave as profit margins are shrinking, said the same source.
In fact, Octopus prices are getting higher while demand is increasing in the international market. A strong demand on the species has emerged while supply remains low. However, this did not stop strong buyers in northern and eastern Europe and the US from loking for «top quality octopus from Morocco and neighboring countries, rather than a cheaper alternative from Indonesia or Philippines», said Manuel Rodriguez Bustelo, commercial director for Fesba, a Spanish firm that specializes in octopus.
Looking for alternatives
However, the situation has pushed small buyers, who can’t afford Moroccan octopus, to look for other solutions. Speaking to the same newspaper, a company pointed out that some producers are leaving the octopus market.
«If Moroccan octopus prices continued to rise at this place, US buyers could look for alternative origins», said another US-based source to the British newspaper.
Unfortunately, it might be the case as fishing octopus will be closed here in Morocco for one month, namely from the 1st of April to the 31st of May. This situation is expected to increase the Moroccan octopus prices and demand will grow even further. This has been confirmed to Under Current News by an Italian source who stated that they «are lacking octopus, in southern Italy, they have already began to sell it only if combined with another species».
According to the same source, Moroccan octopus prices are expected to be around $60-70 per-metric-ton in the upcoming weeks.
For the record, Moroccan octopus prices have been on the rise since last year. Price increases have been recorded every week starting from the beginning of the fishing season, namely December.
