Last week I heard a chef say "lobster's cheaper than chicken," which got Short Order wondering about Lobsternomics, the study of the lobster economy as it relates to fishermen, wholesalers and restaurants in South Florida. We'll be delving into the issue more thoroughly.
Today, meet Carlos and his wife Lilian Berdeal from Carlos Seafood, Inc. They own and operate facilities to pack and process one to 3 million pounds of lobster a year, according to their website.
Here's what they had to say about business these days...
Carlos speaks Spanish, this is a translation of a phone interview:
"The price has gone down a lot, consumption is just not there, we're talking about the market in the U.S. and Europe. We're talking about producers from Brazil and the Bahamas and Cuba suffering too.
Europe is just not buying. Restaurants put on the menu that it's for sale at market price, so that has an effect also. People automatically think 'expensive' when they see that. You know how it is with the economy. It's the same with meat, everything's falling. We're just trying to survive.
Carlos' wife Lilian says:
"I been here
As far as the lobsters go it's just that the demand's not there for them, not since
last year, last year everything just started going down the drain. At one time we
were payin $19 a pound for tails and then it dropped all of a sudden. By the time we
realized it, the inventory we had bought for $19 we had to sell for $12.
bought for $7, and now we're offering it for $4.50.
cant afford to pay right now either.
Right now everybody's gotta suffer and see if they can get through this
year and see what happens next.
don't get any help from the government like the farmers do.
Those storms that hit last year messed up a lot of traps and a lot of gear. The house, that's us, can't help the fishermen because we have all this inventory we couldn't sell.